


Little Mermaid

by Clare_Spradley_I



Category: H2O: Just Add Water
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 33,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29221314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clare_Spradley_I/pseuds/Clare_Spradley_I
Summary: She was just planning on tricking Zane into kissing her. After all, the movies like the Little Mermaid always talked about true love’s kiss. Maybe then he’d realize how much better she was than Rikki. That was until the locket flew off Miriam’s neck and split open on the table revealing a picture Zane might find quite interesting. A different take on In Too Deep (S1 EP 23)
Relationships: Zane Bennett/Rikki Chadwick
Comments: 17
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

As soon as Zane walked away from the display window is when she had walked in to buy the locket Rikki Chadwick was so keen on getting. What did Zane see in her anyway? Sure, she wasn't ugly but she wasn't his type. Not that anyone knew much about Rikki, but Miriam suspected she didn't come from riches like she and Zane did. That's why they were good together; they were the same. She just needed to get him to realize that and she needed to get this new girl away.

The locket wasn't that expensive, thankfully. Although, Miriam would have paid almost any price to make sure it was in her hands, not Rikki's or Zane's. She wore it to the cafe and, as expected, Rikki was there and boy, was she pissed. If Zane hadn't pulled Rikki off of Miriam, who knows what would have happened. It didn't matter though, Miriam got exactly what she wanted. That was until Zane drove a dagger into her heart, saying they were never together. That's not what she remembered.

The locket was annoying. It kept getting caught on her shirt and earrings. She knew she was going to have to part with it eventually but she didn't know what would be the best way to do it. She couldn't just stop wearing it, it would only confirm Zane and Rikki's suspicions that she bought it for petty reasons. Zane clearly wasn't letting go of Rikki either. How could she get rid of this locket and remind Zane how much better she was than the messy haired brat he was with?

Miriam glanced up to the TV in the cafe and noticed they were playing the Little Mermaid. She loved that movie when she was younger. What she wouldn't give to be a mermaid, in love with a handsome prince, ready for true love's kiss...

Wait a minute. That's it! She needed to kiss Zane. Then he'd remember how much of a better kisser she was than Rikki. Yes, she'd give him the locket for a kiss! She needed Rikki to see it, though. How would she get them both in the same place? At the JuiceNet of course! They were both here all the time, if she just waited they were both sure to come back in soon.

Miriam stood up to get another juice when her earring got caught on her necklace. She let out a yelp of pain and her friend, Tiffany stood up to help her.

"Miriam, are you all right?" Tiffany asked.

"Do I look all right?!" Miriam exclaimed back, her head titled so her earring wouldn't rip out of her ear. "Help me out."

"Just hold still," She said as she started trying to unclasp the two pieces of jewelry.

"Stop it!" Miriam exclaimed after a moment. "You're making it worse!"

"Just relax." Tiffany tried. "Try tilting your head."

"I am, you moron," Miriam shot back. "That's why it's caught! Ugh I wish I never bought this thing!"

Just then, Tiffany must have unclasped the necklace and it went flying, hitting the nearest table, the locket popping open.

"That was your fault," Miriam said. "Fix it."

Miriam pushed past Tiffany to return to their table while Tiffany went to pick up the likely broken locket. It seemed to be fine but it was now open for the first time. Inside was an old picture of three girls. Tiffany supposed that was normal for items like this but something about the picture seemed intriguing.

"Weird, old picture." Tiffany said as she set the locket down by Miriam.

"Let me see that." Miriam said, snatching the locket off the table. The photo in the locket was old and weird yet something about it was familiar. But what was it?

Suddenly, something in the background caught her eye. Something she had only previously seen in a sketch Zane had made of the supposed mermaid that saved him from the boat wreck. Was he right about the mermaids all along? Miriam glanced up at the TV seeing the cartoon mermaid and then back at the locket where she saw three real mermaids staring back at her.

This begged the question, why did Rikki want it so much? Was she related to the mermaid Zane was hunting? This photo was ancient and the shop told her it was from a deceased estate, the others in this photo were probably dead too. Still, if Miriam could make Zane think Rikki had some involvement with the mermaids he was hunting and was keeping it a secret, Zane would likely turn on Rikki and come crawling back to Miriam.

Oh, yes this plan was even better than true love's kiss.

Miriam peaked out the entrance in front of her and saw the blonde bimbo meet up with Lewis. Over by the entrance beside her, she saw Zane heading up to the cafe with Nate and Wilfred. They likely didn't see each other making this the perfect set up.

Zane and his group entered the cafe first. Wilfred was carrying what looked like an old door from a boat with the two boys in tow. Miriam caught eyes with Zane and wagged her finger to motion him over to her table.

"What do you want?" He asked when he arrived. "No more games."

"Games?" She scoffed. "Me? Please. Look, I have a proposition for you."

"Yeah, what's that?" Zane asked.

"It's just..." she started, pulling her pouting face she usually used with her father to get more money. "I'm just bored with the locket."

"Really?" Zane asked, skeptically.

"Yes." She replied. "And I'd gladly give it to you for nothing."

"Really?" He asked again. "What's the catch?"

"No catch." Miriam replied as she reached to grab the locket. The beaded curtains behind Zane rattled and she noticed Rikki and Lewis had entered the cafe, both eyes on Zane and their table. Perfect timing.

"Here you go." She said as she placed it in his hand and stood up from their table. "Looks like it popped open on accident. Oops."

Zane watched as Miriam walked away, just to make sure she wasn't going to turn back and change her mind or ask him for something ridiculous. She seemed to seriously want to part with this locket. He looked down at the item in his hand, thinking she might have broken it. It was unclasped but it wasn't broken. Although she was right, the locket was popped open and Zane could see the picture inside for the first time.

It was an old picture of three girls. He supposed the smiles on the girls' faces would be the first thing most people would have noticed but something else caught his eye. Something he'd only seen a few times before.

The three girls in front of him were mermaids.

His mind started racing again on the mermaid hunt. He had been so obsessed with getting this locket for Rikki, he hadn't given mermaids much of a thought today.

Rikki.

She wanted this locket. No, she needed this locket. She wanted the red dress they saw in the window but he knew she would have been fine without it. Hell, she was ready to trash it when she came back to his dad's business lunch. This locket was different, it seemed like life or death for her. Rikki was head-strong but she wouldn't pick a fight in public unless that person had seriously wronged her or someone she had cared about. Even outside the cafe, she was heated but as secretive as ever. Zane had wondered why she wouldn't tell him why she needed the locket so badly, why she would never come out on his Zodiac with him, why she never, ever let him talk about mermaids. Now, looking down at the picture of the three girls with tails resting inside the locket she so desperately needed, things seemed to start to make sense.

"Hey, you got the locket." He vaguely heard Rikki's voice behind him. He wanted to be mad. He wanted to yell at her. She had a connection to mermaids and she kept it from him. His mind was still racing and he wasn't sure he was going to make the right decision by yelling at her or by just giving her the locket. He needed some fresh air.

"Yeah," he started. She gave him an odd look as if to ask what was wrong. "Can we talk outside?"

"Sure." Rikki replied as she lead him out to the lawn. Luckily, Lewis stayed behind in the cafe.

"What's up?" Rikki asked as they stopped at a tree near the water.

"The locket was open when Miriam gave it to me." Zane said, honestly. He watched Rikki's eyes go wide and try to snatch the locket from him. He quickly closed his hand around the locket so she couldn't take it. She'd probably run off with it if she was able to get her hands on it. He needed this conversation to continue.

"You know more about mermaids than you've led me to believe." Zane accused her. He was still calm but it was taking every muscle inside of him to keep himself in check. Rikki crossed her arms over her chest, neither confirming or denying his accusation. He wished she would say something. Someone had to say something.

"Why do you want this locket so badly?" Zane proceeded. Rikki kept her arms folded and looked at the grass below them as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. "Who are these girls?"

"It doesn't matter." She mumbled, just loud enough for him to hear. "Forget about it."

That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Forget about it?!" Zane yelled. His outrage seemed to have gotten her attention away from the grass, at least. "Rikki, how the hell am I supposed to forget about this? You know how important this mermaid hunt is to me. I don't know what all you know but I know you've been lying to me about this."

"How have I been lying?!" Rikki shot back, suddenly just as mad as he was. "It's not like you ever asked me anything about it! It's not like you've asked me if I was a mermaid!"

His world stopped. It was...her? Rikki was the one who saved him from Ms. Chatham's boat? Rikki was the redhead he saw swimming away from her sunken boat a few months later? It was her all along? A few months ago, if she had just blurted out to him that she was a mermaid, he wouldn't have believed her but now he didn't feel he even needed proof.

"You're... a mermaid?" Zane asked. If Rikki's eyes doubled in size when he told her he saw the picture in the locket, they were tripled now.

"I didn't say that." Rikki finally replied in a soft voice, reassuming her position staring at the ground with her arms crossed.

"Then let me rephrase the question," Zane said. "Rikki, are you a mermaid?"

He didn't know what to expect when she took her eyes off the ground but it wasn't her eyes brimming with tears. He had never seen her cry before and he knew she wasn't the type to cry over spilled milk. He struck a huge chord with her. Then again, he supposed if she was a mermaid, she couldn't parade that piece of information around. People might try to harm her and profit off of her.

Just like he said he was going to do when he found the mermaid.

Fuck, he had messed this all up. She was probably scared for her life.

"Rikki..." Zane started in a much calmer voice as this realization dawned on him. He reached out to touch her arm but she pulled away.

"Don't!" She exclaimed. She took a step back to get away from him and that must have been all she needed to break out of the statue she was stuck in and started to turn around and walk away.

"Rikki, wait!" Zane exclaimed as he jumped in front of her, blocking her from moving forward another step.

"Zane, get out of my way." She tried as he saw tears starting to fall down her face.

"No, we need to talk about this." He tried, grabbing one of her arms in his free hand to try to keep her from maneuvering around him. Suddenly, his hand was scalding hot and he felt himself let go.

"No, we don't." Rikki replied as she easily moved past him and and started running away from the cafe, the locket still secure in Zane's possession.

* * *

**AN: I hope you guys enjoyed the start of this story! I had originally planned to have this story run about 5-6 chapters which would line up with the end of the episode In Too Deep (S1 EP23) but my mind has been racing and it might go through the end of the first season and who knows, maybe even further. We'll have to see what my brain decides to do. I also know things are going to start getting busy for me so if it's super busy I will keep it short just so you guys aren't left with a story with no end. Still, let me know what you guys would like to see!**

**I also hope to post new chapters every Monday, Wednesday and Friday so be on the look out if you're interested!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

He had really fucked up.

He let her run off and who knows if she'd ever come back to him. He had been so keen to prove to everyone in Gold Coast he had found a mermaid. He had just assumed the mermaid lived in the ocean all the time, it never occurred to him it could have been someone on the surface, much less someone he knew.

With an exasperated sigh, Zane figured he needed to go back into the cafe. A juice might help calm him down and he needed to tell Nate they weren't going to hang out tomorrow. Zane needed to find Rikki and work this thing out.

"Hey, you got the locket." Lewis had said to him once Zane sat down at the bar with his juice. He had just tossed the locket to the side after he closed it. For the first time in months, he didn't want to think about mermaids.

"Yeah." Zane replied back, simply. He hoped that was enough to get Lewis to leave him alone.

"You didn't give it to Rikki?" Lewis asked. "I saw you guys go outside."

"She didn't want it anymore." He said.

"What?" Lewis exclaimed back as if he didn't believe Zane. "Of course she wants it! It's the same as Cleo's and..."

Lewis trailed off before ending his sentence. Zane looked up at him to see Lewis' eyes were wide like Rikki's were earlier. People just didn't seem to be able to keep secrets today.

"The same as Cleo's and who's locket?" Zane asked.

"No one." Lewis said with a laugh. When Rikki was trying to hide something, she closed up and you'd be hellbent to get in. When Lewis was trying to hide something, he deflected it with awkward humor.

"What do you know, Lewis?" Zane asked.

"Nothing." Lewis replied. "But I really should be heading home."

Was it possible Lewis knew Rikki's mermaid secret? It would make sense, really. She couldn't hide it from everyone. Then again, Lewis was closer to Cleo than everyone. Everyone in the whole town besides the two of them could tell they had feelings for each other. Cleo did spend a lot of time with Rikki. It always seemed to be the two of them and Emma hanging out and Lewis was never far behind. Then Zane remembered the inside of the locket. There were three girls inside. Three mermaids. And Cleo had a locket too.

Lewis was almost out the door when Zane caught him with a simple statement.

"I know what's inside the locket." Zane said. Lewis stopped in his tracks.

"You-you opened it?" Lewis asked, turning around.

"It's a long story." Zane replied moving closer to Lewis so people wouldn't hear them. "I know Rikki's secret too. I have a feeling I'm not the only one."

"Let's go outside." Lewis said after a moment.

The two boys who were now in the know of the girls that possessed secret mermaid identities walked out to the lawn Rikki and Zane had argued at previously. Zane told Lewis everything. How Miriam gave him the locket with it wide open. How he had accused Rikki of knowing about mermaids. How she had accidentally confirmed she was a mermaid to him and how she ran off.

"I wouldn't hurt her, intentionally." Zane said. "This whole mermaid hunt... I just wanted to prove I was right about it. I thought she lived in the ocean all the time and I thought it would be cool to expose such a myth. I guess I just thought of the mermaid like a fish, sometimes people catch them and they die. The cycle of life, you know. I never thought she'd be someone here."

"I'm not sure what to tell you, Zane." Lewis had replied. "I know you don't want to harm Rikki but she's not convinced of that. You know how stubborn she can be."

"Yeah," Zane replied with a small smile. Her stubbornness drove him crazy sometimes but he secretly loved it. "Do you know where I could find her?"

"Maybe," Lewis replied. "There's a secret spot but I think she should be the one to tell you about that."

Zane sighed. He really needed to talk to Rikki but he supposed Lewis was right. She'd probably freak out and swim all the way to America if he just waltzed into this secret spot of hers.

"Look, Zane she probably just needs some space." Lewis told him. "I'm sure she and the girls will come by the JuiceNet tomorrow, why don't you just hang out here tomorrow and I'm sure you'll be able to see her."

"That's probably a good idea." Zane said back. He wished he could talk to her now but Lewis was right. Rikki wasn't going to open up to anyone until she wanted to.

"Sounds like a plan." Lewis said. "I've got to head out. Good luck with it."

Lewis started to walk away from Zane when he thought of something else he needed to tell the girls. Although showing up at their homes and letting them know he knew they were mermaids would likely not be comforting to them.

"Lewis?" Zane asked.

"Yeah?" Lewis replied as he turned around.

"The girls," he started. "You mean Cleo and Emma, right?"

Lewis looked like his brain was going to explode. It seemed like he knew that Zane knew they were also mermaids. He supposed he did expose Cleo and it didn't take a genius to figure out Emma was also a major part of the girls' friendship. Nevertheless, Lewis started stuttering excuses toward Zane.

"Look, just tell them I wouldn't hurt them either, okay?" Zane told Lewis.

"Yeah." Lewis replied after a while. "All right."

Lewis turned around and started walking away from him again. Zane looked down at the locket and opened it up to reveal the three mermaids. He didn't think this was how he would feel when he finally found his mermaid. Then again, he certainly didn't think his mermaid would have been Rikki Chadwick.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

If her friends called to hang out, Rikki was going to tell them she was sick. She needed to stay home to think of a plan. She also couldn't face telling them Zane knew of her secret. They had given her such a hard time about dating him and possibly letting their mermaid identity out into the open. She supposed if she and Zane became much more serious than they were now, she would have to tell him at some point. She couldn't very well get married to someone and keep her mermaid identity a secret. But this and now was not what she had planned at all.

Would she have to leave the country? Zane was anxious to find his mermaid. He had mentioned making a profit on it before. Would he try to sell her to some scientist who would rip her to pieces? Even if he didn't do that, every time he described the mermaid he used terms like "weird". Would he really want to keep dating a "weird" girl? At the least, he'd probably just expose her to his friends. He wanted more than anything to prove he was right about the mermaid. Even if he didn't have any ill intentions, who knows what Nate or Miriam would do to her.

Her dad had long since left for work and she was pacing the small area that was their living room, wondering what to do. Could she meet up with Ms. Chatham to talk about this? No, the old hoot would probably be pissed she let the secret out. She couldn't, under any circumstances, tell Cleo or Emma either. Rikki was used to keeping things to herself. She liked it most of the time but she didn't know what to do with this secret.

Her life would have been so much simpler if she wasn't a mermaid. If she just hadn't stolen Zane's Zodiac, she'd still be a normal girl. Funny, she never thought of it before but in a way, Zane was the reason they were mermaids. If she hadn't have stolen his spark plug, if he hadn't pushed Cleo out to sea, who knows if the girls would even be friends let alone share this bond.

Rikki realized she wasn't going to be able to come up with a plan just pacing in the small space. She always did her best thinking when she was outside, by the beach. That would risk the possibility of her running into Zane, Cleo, Emma, Lewis, Ms. Chatham or really anyone she knew but she wasn't going to figure anything out here. Maybe if she went to a different beach than normal, they wouldn't find her.

She decided on Rockshore Beach, a secluded area with lots of large rocks and boulders. No one ever really came out here, the tide was often too high and the rocks and boulders could mean serious injury. That still didn't make it a bad place to just walk along the sand. That was until it was until she was no longer alone.

* * *

"Nate, I told you I can't go out today." Zane snapped at his friend who didn't seem to get the message the day before.

"Why not?" Nate asked. Zane wouldn't dare tell Nate why. Not only did Zane want to keep Rikki's secret from Nate, he knew Nate wouldn't understand repairing a wrong with a... well, whatever Rikki was to Zane. They never really put a label on their relationship.

"I just have things to do." Zane replied.

"What, like sitting here in the cafe all day?" Nate asked.

"Yep." Zane replied, hoping Nate would become annoyed with him and move on.

"Come on, mate." Nate whined at him. "The waves are really good out by Rockshore Beach, let's hit the surf!"

"Rockshore?" Zane asked. "No, thanks. I don't feel like dying today."

"No one's died out there." Nate tried again. "Come on, just for a bit. Then you can come back here and do... whatever you're doing."

Zane sighed. Nate could be as stubborn as he could sometimes. Still not as stubborn as Rikki. Rikki. He needed to stay here at the cafe. Still, it was early. Rikki and her friends didn't come in until later usually. Maybe he could afford a half hour away from the cafe.

"Fine." Zane said, standing up from the bar. "Half hour, tops."

"Deal." Nate replied as the two headed out to gear up and go to Rockshore Beach.

* * *

Rikki was still pacing in the sand almost an hour later. She had forgotten to wear sunblock and was probably going to have a bad burn from this but she didn't care. The outdoors hadn't done her much good in her thinking process but she had decided she couldn't leave town yet. As much as she didn't want to, she needed to talk to Zane and figure out what he knew. If he knew Cleo and Emma were also mermaids and wanted to expose them, they would need to know too. She secretly hoped Zane knew of the other girls' secret too so they could work together to come up with an escape plan. As much as Rikki hated to admit it, the three of them did work better when they worked together.

Still, if she kept a low profile, she wouldn't need to talk to Zane today. She couldn't talk to him today. This all felt as if someone had taken a part of her away. She supposed that was what a break up was about. She wouldn't dare admit this but she never had a boyfriend before so everything about her relationship with Zane was new. They hadn't put labels on what they were yet but they went on dates often, neither of them were seeing other people, they were basically boyfriend and girlfriend, right? Who knows.

She was getting ready to leave when she heard someone come up behind her. She turned around to see two boys in surf gear. One of the boys was Zane.

Rikki wanted to run but something kept her frozen in place. She locked eyes with Zane and saw him put his board down, say something to Nate the latter didn't seem thrilled about and run towards her.

"Can I have a word?" He asked, once he reached her.

"Sure." She muttered. The waves were high and loud so she wasn't sure if he heard her. She turned and started walking the other direction and he followed her, seemingly understanding.

"So..." Zane started. He knew he was going to have to start this conversation with her but he didn't really know how. "You're a mermaid?"

Great start.

"Only when I get wet." Rikki replied. There was no use trying to deny it now.

"How?" Zane blurted out. He wanted to say more or even ask a different, more thoughtful question but that was all his brain could tell his mouth to say.

"It's a long story." Rikki replied.

"I have time." Zane said.

"I don't." Rikki scoffed, not much caring if he took offense.

"Rikki, come on," Zane tried, grabbing her arm so she was facing him. "You can trust me, I promise."

"Trust you?!" Rikki shot back. "How the hell am I supposed to trust the great mermaid hunter?"

"Look, I know I said and did somethings in the past that might make you think I would harm the mermaid, intentionally or unintentionally, but I would never do that to you." Zane said. "I want to protect you and keep your secret."

"Really?" Rikki scoffed again. "You're telling me you don't want to drag me up to the cafe, dump water all over me and prove you were right to everyone?"

"Rikki, I don't care about being right anymore." Zane said. "I care about you. And us."

"I wish I could believe you." She replied.

"Come on!" They suddenly heard Nate yell from a couple yards away. "Are we going or what?"

"Yeah, in a minute, Nate." Zane replied. That was a change from him usually ditching her to do whatever Nate wanted when he was getting impatient.

"You can believe me, Rikki." Zane told her. "I promise you, I wouldn't do anything to harm you or the girls."

"So you know there's more?" Rikki said. He had just about confirmed the information she needed. She was ready to run to Cleo and Emma's house to let them know it was time to leave Gold Coast.

"Yeah," Zane said. "Lewis accidentally told me. Cleo and Emma, right?"

"Yeah," she said, softly. They'd be gone by morning and Zane would be back to being the crazed mermaid hunter. It didn't matter if he knew or not.

"Rikki, I promise-" Zane was cut off by an excited yell behind him. Nate clearly couldn't wait any longer so he hit the waves by himself. He rode the wave he was on out but crashed at the end. It didn't seem to matter and he ran up to the two and dropped his board a few feet behind Zane.

"Come on, mate." He said to Zane, water dripping off his hair and face. "The waves aren't going to last all day. Let go!"

"I said in a minute, Nate." Zane snapped at his friend.

Nate seemed to ignore his friend's irritable mood and tried another tactic.

"Rikki," he said, moving closer to the blonde girl. "How about it? You surf, babe?"

Nate placed an arm around her shoulders as he talked to her. It wasn't any different than any time he talked to another girl and Rikki would have just shoved him off and stormed away but Nate was still dripping wet and now she was too. She inhaled sharply as she felt the water touch her shoulders and the back of her neck and knew she would transform soon. She looked up and locked eyes with Zane, hoping he could tell what she was trying to say and hoping he would prove her wrong.

Zane already seemed to be in motion when Rikki looked up at him. She felt his hand on the back of her shoulder, pushing her out of Nate's arms and even behind Zane himself, towards the ocean. She turned around to see Zane had grabbed Nate's surf suit with his other hand and had switched their positions so Nate was facing the land and Zane facing out to sea, at Rikki. She didn't miss the small nod he gave her.

"She's my girlfriend, Nate." Rikki heard Zane yell at his friend as she ran into the water. "Don't touch her."

Rikki swam into the ocean, wondering how Zane was going to explain her sudden disappearance to Nate. Nate wasn't the brightest bulb in the box though so maybe it wouldn't be too difficult. Still, Rikki swam toward Mako Island knowing two things. One, she could trust Zane with her mermaid secret and two, she was Zane Bennett's girlfriend. The thought would have made the girl that stole the Zodiac hurl but currently made her smile.

What a crazy life she lived.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

True to his word, Nate and Zane only surfed for a half hour. Although Zane spent most of his time sitting on the beach, wondering where Rikki had swam off to. Maybe it was the secret spot Lewis was talking about yesterday. More than anything, he hoped she was all right and he hoped she would feel she could trust him after this.

Zane had spoken to Rikki, which was what he set out to do today. Still, he didn't feel like they got the closure on the situation they needed. He was still unsure if she trusted him. Hell, she might have swam off to another continent for all he knew. He hoped with every fiber in his being that wasn't what had happened. It was only mid-afternoon, he didn't know what to do with the rest of his day. He supposed he could go back to the JuiceNet and have a few drinks before heading home.

Zane sat at the corner of the bar sipping on his second juice. Thankfully, he must have given off bad energy since no one even took a seat next to him. That is until he felt someone come sit beside him as his finished his juice.

"Hi," Rikki said to him. He moved his empty cup out of the way and turned to face her.

"Hey," he said with a hopeful smile on his face. She still looked a bit unsure. He could tell she was weighing options in her head though. That was better than nothing.

"Thanks for covering for me with Nate." She said as she glanced at his cup in the corner.

"No problem." He replied, looking directly as her. Suddenly he remembered the locket he still had in his pocket. "I meant to give this to you."

He pulled the locket out of his pocket and handed it to her. A small but pained smile came over her face.

"Thanks." She replied, barely making any eye contact with him.

Zane decided he wasn't going to try to speak. He had said everything he wanted to say to her and more. Rikki would need to be the one to talk next. She hadn't said much all day. It was only fair.

"So I'm your girlfriend now?" Rikki asked him, the pain in her smile disappearing.

"If you want to be." Zane replied. He certainly wasn't going to force her.

"It's just... it's a lot, you know." Rikki said. "The secret. It's a lot for just me to deal with. And Emma and Cleo. There's a lot that you don't know about it. Hell, there's a lot that I don't know about it. It's hard enough just being a teenager and to deal with this on top of it... it's something I have to do but I don't want to drag you into it."

"You're forgetting who you're talking to." Zane said with a cheeky smile. Rikki looked confused. "I'm the mermaid hunter."

They shared a small laugh after that. He suspected Rikki was a bit relieved he didn't agree with her and walk out.

"Look, I'm the only one around here who believes in mermaids." Zane told her. "I can handle it."

"Zane..." Rikki started with a sigh, looking again at the discarded cup.

Zane placed two of his fingers under her chin, gently guiding her lips to his. They met in a sweet kiss. He loved kissing her. If you asked him, they didn't do it enough. It would have to be something they would start working on if they became boyfriend and girlfriend.

"I can handle it." Zane repeated. "If it means being with you, I can handle most anything."

Rikki smiled again and he swore he saw tears brimming in her eyes. He hoped they were happy tears and he didn't hurt her somehow, yet again.

"Okay." Rikki replied. "Let's do it then."

They both stood up and enveloped each other in a hug. She fit perfectly right under his chin. They needed to hug more too, Zane noted.

"I do have one condition though," Zane started.

"What's that?" Rikki asked.

"Well, I know you said you don't know everything about this mermaid stuff but can you tell me what you do know?" Zane asked. "I promise, I'll keep it all to myself but I just want to know everything about you. No more secrets."

"Fair enough." Rikki replied. "Look, I'll need to talk to Emma and Cleo before we do all of that if that's all right."

"Yeah," Zane said. "I can wait. I bet that will be a fun conversation for you."

"Tell me about it." She replied with an eye roll. The other two girls never liked him and, to be fair, they had good reasoning.

"Although, I suppose I can tell you one thing." Rikki said.

"What's that?" Zane asked.

"Well, do you remember when we had our first kiss on Mako Island?" She asked. Zane nodded. "How you said you couldn't remember anything after it? Well, I wasn't completely myself then but... I dehydrated you."

"What?" Zane asked with a disbelieving smile.

"And last night, to get you to let go of me, I burned your hand." Rikki told him.

"How...is that even possible?" Zane asked.

"I don't know." Rikki said. "Mermaid magic I suppose. We all have different powers. I can heat water as hot as I want to."

"Huh." Zane said after a moment. "I guess there is a lot I don't know. What about your secret spot?"

"Secret spot?" Rikki asked as if he started speaking another language.

"Lewis told me you have a secret spot." Zane told her.

"We all do." Rikki said. "I need to talk to the girls before I show you."

Zane nodded. If he had his way, he would want to know everything now but he understood why she needed to talk to Emma and Cleo first. It probably wouldn't be too comforting to them if he and Rikki were in their secret place, him uninvited.

"I'm supposed to meet up with them this evening actually." Rikki said. "I could probably tell them the news and then you and I can meet up later tonight."

"Yeah, all right." Zane responded with a smile. "That works for me."

"Good." Rikki said. "I'm going to head out then. I'll catch you later."

Zane pulled her arm back to him and leaned down to give her a kiss. It hadn't struck him until now that they were in a very public place but he didn't care and she didn't seem to have a problem with it.

"See you later." He said with a smile on his face. She gave him a smile back and he didn't miss the slight blushing on her cheeks either.

Before Rikki walked out of the cafe, Zane barely registered the opening of the beaded curtains behind him. He just watched Rikki walk out of the front exit of the JuiceNet.

"What were you doing with her?" He heard a familiar voice behind him. Miriam stood there with a pissed look on her face.

"Her?" Zane asked back. "Oh, you mean my girlfriend?"

Miriam's jaw hit the floor. This is not what she had planned. Zane was supposed to be mad at her for hiding her mermaid connection from him. He wasn't supposed to forgive her for anything.

"I..." Miriam started. "But... the locket..."

"Oh, yeah I just gave it to her." Zane replied. "Thanks for giving it up, Rikki really loves it."

Zane exited the juice bar out the same exit Rikki had left. He felt like a whole new man. It was a good feeling, really. Out with the old and in with the new.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Rikki was as nervous as she had ever been standing outside of Emma's front door. She knew the two girls didn't like that she was dating Zane let alone trust him. She supposed they had a right not to trust him. He was never the friendliest person to them or anyone besides Rikki herself, really.

Still, she couldn't take back what he knew and she figured since he knew so much, he might as well know everything. If anything, this would just be a heads up to the girls. They might swim into the moon pool and Rikki and Zane would be there on a date. They might be hanging out at the JuiceNet and Zane might ask Rikki if she wanted to go for a swim and she'd say yes. They didn't have to be okay with it, they just needed to know.

Rikki entered the house and made her way up to Emma's room after saying a quick hello to Emma's parents. With an exhale, she entered to find the other two girls with mermaid identities in the room. They were both flipping through some magazines, likely trying to find some cute, new outfits.

"Hey, Rikki," Cleo greeted her. "You got the locket!"

Rikki vaguely remembered she had put the locket on on her way over to Emma's house.

"How'd you get it?" Emma asked. "I thought you said Miriam had it."

"She did." Rikki replied. "I'm not sure, Zane much have gotten from her somehow."

"That was nice of him." Cleo responded. Emma didn't give as much of as much of a friendly response.

"Yeah, it was." Rikki replied. "He's done several nice things for me, actually."

"Like what?" Emma asked, unconvinced.

"Well..." Rikki started. She supposed she could rip the band aid off now but she wasn't sure that was the best idea. "He got me that dress after I said I wanted it."

"You gave it back though, didn't you?" Emma asked.

"No, I still have it." Rikki said. "I was only going to give it back if he kept taking his dad's side."

"What other nice things has he done for you?" Cleo asked, less out of spite and more out of curiosity. If any of the three was a hopeless romantic, it was Cleo.

"He's always been a gentleman on our dates." Rikki said. "He always pays for my food and anything else we pick up."

"Anything not involving money?" Emma asked. "It's not much for Zane to spend a few hundred dollars."

 _Fair enough,_ Rikki thought. It would be more of a dick move on his end if he made her pay for everything on their dates when she and everyone in Gold Coast knew he was loaded.

"Well..." Rikki started. Time to rip the band aid off. "He did help me earlier today. We ran into each other at the beach, I was by myself and he was with Nate, and I got wet and he covered for me so Nate wouldn't know I was a mermaid."

The two girls looked up from the magazines they were reading to stare at Rikki. She had their full attention now. She tried to keep her face as stoic as possible but the looks of confusion on their faces was hysterical.

"Rikki," Emma started. "Why would Zane have known to cover for you if you got wet?"

"Yeah," Cleo agreed. "Does he know we're... you know...mermaids?"

"What can I say," Rikki said picking up one of the several magazines on Emma's bed. "The boy's a genius."

"Rikki!" Emma exclaimed. "How could you let Zane know we're mermaids?!"

"It's not like I just walked into the cafe and told him!" Rikki shot back. "Like I said, he figured it out."

"How could he have figured it out?" Emma asked. "Did you grow a tail in front of him?"

"No." Rikki replied. "I think Miriam set him up."

"How does she know?" Emma exclaimed again.

"I doubt she knows anything." Rikki replied. "She's got the same IQ as this locket."

"Rikki what happened?" Emma asked.

Rikki dove into the events of the past few days. How Miriam had given Zane the locket, how she accidentally told him she was a mermaid and ran off, again how they bumped into each other at the beach and how he had covered for her and their meet up at the cafe.

"I know it sounds crazy, but I feel like we can trust him." Rikki told the other two girls. "Besides, it's not like we have a choice. He already knows."

"What if he blurts it out to someone?" Emma asked. "What if we get hurt? What if you get hurt?"

"Lewis knows too." Rikki said. "He could easily tell anyone too. He's almost slipped up numerous times."

"Lewis has always protected us." Cleo jumped in. She was usually quiet during arguments until someone came after Lewis. "He would never intentionally tell anyone our secret."

"My point, exactly." Rikki replied. "Zane wouldn't do that either."

"How can you be so sure?" Emma asked in a much calmer voice than before.

"To be honest, I thought he would expose us too." Rikki said. "But he helped me with Nate. He didn't have to do that. He could have just let me turn into a fish and then he would have gloated to Nate about how he was right about mermaids all along.

"And...um..." Rikki continued, clearly becoming a bit uncomfortable, trying to hide her blush from the two girls. "Well, when we met up at the cafe he may have asked me to be his girlfriend."

"So it's official now?" Cleo asked with a big smile on her face.

"Yep." Rikki confirmed, a slight smile back.

"That's great, Rikki." Cleo said. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." Rikki replied, turning her head toward Emma to see a stoic look on her face.

"So what all does he know?" Emma asked Rikki.

"Not much, really." Rikki replied. "I didn't want to tell him anything until I told you guys. He hasn't even seen me as a mermaid yet."

"What all do you plan on telling him?" Cleo asked.

"Well, everything really." Rikki said. "Not all at once though...but I was thinking of taking him to the moon pool tonight and starting there."

"I suppose that is a good place to start." Cleo stated. Emma looked as unsure as ever.

"Rikki, I'm not so sure about all this." Emma said. "It is Zane after all."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rikki asked.

"It's Zane." Emma replied. "The great mermaid hunter. You don't have even the slightest of doubts. The moon pool is practically sacred to us. Why not just take him to an isolated beach and show him there?"

"Sure, because that will explain everything." Rikki said. "Yeah, Zane I just touched water and poof! I'm a mermaid!"

"Well maybe he doesn't need to know everything." Emma said.

"Lewis knows everything!" Rikki shot back again.

"Lewis is trustworthy." Emma replied before Cleo could say anything.

"I just told you I trust Zane, how is that any different?" Rikki asked.

"Because I don't trust Zane!" Emma said. "I'm sorry, but I don't. I'm not going to lie to you."

"And I'm supposed to appreciate that?" Rikki asked.

"Rikki-" Cleo started, wanting to diffuse the tension that currently existed between the fiery and icy mermaids.

"You know what," Rikki cut her off. "This is why I don't tell you anything that has to do with Zane. You always jump down my throat about it and I'm sick of it. I'm taking him to the moon pool tonight and that's that."

Rikki stormed out of the room, ignoring Cleo's protests to try to bring her back. Emma was quiet so she clearly didn't care if Rikki walked off or not. Rikki loved being in a relationship with Zane but it was times like these she was beyond frustrated with her friends for doubting his intentions, or more importantly, dismissing her feelings.

Once she was outside of Emma's house, she took a few deep breaths and flipped open her phone.

"Hey." She heard his voice after a few rings.

"Hi." She replied back. "I just got done with the girls."

"How'd it go?" Zane asked.

"I'll tell you about it later." Rikki replied, trying to sound as neutral as possible. She started her next sentence before he could say anything. "Do you want to meet at Mako?"

"Sure." Zane replied. "I'll meet you at the Zodiac in a few minutes."

"I have a way of getting there on my own." Rikki replied with a grin. "I'll catch you later."

"All right." Zane said with a laugh. "I'll see you soon."

One thing was for sure, Rikki was going to show Zane the secrets of Mako Island tonight, regardless of if her friends wanted her to or not. Little did the blonde mermaid know of the dangers lurking at Mako Island in the form of a certain marine biologist's boat.

* * *

**AN: Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the previous few! I've been so thankful for this love on this story! I think I will make it the longer version so be prepared for several extra chapters. Things are about to get way more dramatic now that Denman is in the** **picture! I feel weird about adding her in but she does make an appearance around this point in the series anyway.**

**Anyway, just wanted to give you all a quick update and let you know where I'm planning on heading with the story! I have a couple more H2O ideas** **independent from this one that I should be publishing soon so be on the look out for those if you are interested! Also just wanted to say thanks again for all the love!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

It was dark outside by the time Zane arrived at Mako Island. He looked up at the sky and was surprised at how many more stars he saw in the sky than he did on the main land. The island was truly a natural beauty and he was so glad Rikki had foiled his dad's plans to develop it.

He had been on the island for only a few minutes when he wondered when Rikki would arrive. If she was a mermaid, surely she could breathe underwater but Mako was still a good twenty miles away from the main land. It would take her forever to swim here. Unless she could swim incredibly fast. He had seen that one mermaid out by Ms. Chatham's sunken boat swim off at lighting speed. Maybe Rikki could do that too.

Then, he wondered if the red head was Rikki or one of the other girls. Or could there possibly be more mermaids than the three of them? None of them had red hair. He also wondered if it was Rikki who had saved him when the boat was sinking. He'd only seen the tail of the mermaid, not her face. It very well could have been Rikki but it also could have been Cleo or Emma.

"Hey," he heard a voice behind him that nearly made him jump out of his skin.

"No need to be scared to death." She gently chastised him.

"Hi, to you too." He replied, moving away from the Zodiac. "Where'd you come from?"

"That's what I wanted to show you." Rikki replied. She reached out for his hand and beckoned him toward the forest. That was until she saw the large, white boat out at sea. The boat had a logo on it she had recognized only from the time Lewis was taking the three girls' DNA into that marine biologist. Was it her? Were they in danger?

"Rikki?" Zane asked. She hadn't realized she had stopped walking until he called her name. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah," she said back with a smile. "It's... nothing important."

"All right." Zane replied, not entirely convinced.

Rikki resumed her journey to the moon pool with Zane. She hoped she remembered how to get there from the land. She hadn't come in that way since the three girls had become mermaids. After walking for a few minutes she came across the waterfall they had stumbled into many months ago and knew she had the right spot.

"There's a tunnel here." She motioned to the hole the ground you'd likely miss if you didn't already know it was there. "Fair warning, it's bit steep so watch yourself."

Zane nodded. Where the hell was she taking him? Did she only trick him when she told him she could trust him? Was she going to leave him for dead? Before he could overthink any more, he saw her slip out of sight down the narrow tunnel. He knew he had to follow her. She was right, it was steep and he probably would have twisted his ankle if she hadn't warned him.

They were in a small cave, barely big enough for one more person. What the hell was this? Zane thought. Still, Rikki was trusting him with this secret, he needed to trust her. He watched her walk further into the tunnel and followed suit. He noticed the ceiling of the tunnel was starting to get higher and higher and he could soon walk through the tunnel fully standing. They eventually bumped into a few steps that lead into a large space with a dazzling blue pool in the center. He looked around to take in his surroundings and noticed the night sky in a hole above them.

"Are we inside the volcano?" He asked her.

"Yep." Rikki replied, casually. "This is where it all started."

Zane looked over at Rikki and noticed she was staring at the pool. He looked at it again and seemed to realize this wasn't just any pool of water. There was something about it that was different, dare he say, magical.

"What happened?" Zane asked.

"Funny enough, it was actually the day I stole your Zodiac." Rikki said, turning her attention back to him. "Cleo and I picked Emma up after her swim practice and we took the Zodiac out to sea but ran out of petrol near Mako. We paddled to the shore but still couldn't get any cell service so we decided to try to get to higher ground. Cleo fell down this tunnel so Emma and I followed to make sure she was okay. We came in here and figured this pool connected to the sea.

"I still can't explain it but when we were all in the pool, the full moon came over the volcano opening and the water starting bubbling and rising upward. We swam out and were taken home by the water police. The next day when we were all around water, we discovered we were mermaids."

It was crazy to Zane that it happened that night. He remembered pushing Cleo out to sea on his Zodiac he was ready to get rid of and he remembered being splashed by that same boat that was suddenly being driven by a girl with blonde hair he didn't know at the time. He remembered his dad tearing him a new one the next day and he remembered going after and threatening Cleo for taking his Zodiac out to Mako. What a dick move that was.

After he took a moment to attempt to comprehend this wild story Rikki had just told him, he looked up to see her reaction. She was still starting at the pool, maybe even thinking it through herself. This wasn't something that happened to just anybody. She looked up to him once she noticed his eyes were on her and gave him a small smile, beckoning him to say something.

"Can..." Zane started. "Can I see it?"

Rikki looked down at the ground and he briefly wondered if he had said the wrong thing. He knew this was a lot for her, to open up to someone this much and he was beyond flattered she was doing it for him. Still, he didn't want to push her too far but he couldn't help his curiosity on the subject.

Rikki looked up at him and gave him a mischievous smile before quickly saying, "sure."

Before Zane could say anything further, Rikki gracefully dove into the moon pool. For whatever reason, Zane wasn't expecting it to be that deep but she completely disappeared for a few seconds. He bent down on his knees and leaned over the edge like a kid would do to a fountain at the mall. Slowly but surely, he saw her moving upward and eventually breaking the surface, her black top and red skirt replaced with an orange, scaly bandeau top and fish tail. The same fish tail he had drawn when he was rescued.

"That's..." Zane started in awe, looking for the best word. "That's amazing."

Rikki smiled up at him as she swam the short distance from the center of the pool to the ledge that was close to the perimeter of the pool.

"Thanks." She replied.

"Was it you that saved me?" Zane asked, hopefully.

"No," Rikki replied. "That was Emma. She's also the one you saw with the red hair. She dyed it but it only stuck when she was a mermaid."

They talked for what must have been hours after that about Rikki's mermaid life. He asked questions and she answered as best as she could. There were still plenty of things about being a mermaid that remained a mystery to Rikki.

"It's getting late." She finally said. "We should head back."

"Yeah," Zane replied. He had since chosen to sit down and dip his feet in the water beside her. "Do you have plans for tomorrow?"

"No," Rikki replied. She was going to hang out with the girls but she needed a day away from them after their conversation earlier tonight.

"Do you want to meet up at the cafe tomorrow?" Zane asked her.

"Sure," Rikki replied. "I'll catch you later."

She went to dive under the water but Zane grabbed her arm and pulled her up for a kiss before she left.

"We should do that more often." He told her once they broke the kiss.

"I suppose we should." She agreed.

He gave her a small smile and then made his way up the tunnel she had taken him down previously. He knew he was falling hard for Rikki when he didn't know anything about her but now that he knew about her mermaid identity, he was falling even harder. Maybe it was her mermaid powers or maybe he just liked her that much. Zane didn't really care to think too much about which it might be. He just knew he would be in trouble if things kept going this way.

* * *

Rikki swam out of the tunnel and was going to start propelling to land quickly but the bottom of a boat a few miles away caught her eye. She swam up to the surface to see if it was the boat she saw earlier and saw the same logo she knew belonged to Dr. Denman. Her suspicions were confirmed once she broke the surface. The three girls very well might be in trouble if Denman came poking around again. She was so close to discovering their identity last time, Rikki needed to find out what all Dr. Denman was doing this time.

A part of Rikki knew she shouldn't be doing this by herself and she should at least have the other two girls near her. Another part of her dreaded Dr. Denman showing up at the places they hung out or their homes and interrogating them, placing them in a circus or chopping them up into sushi. She chose to act on the latter as quickly as she could, especially after she saw the red Zodiac speed toward the mainland.

Rikki swam up to the bottom of the boat, still keeping her distance. It was late so she doubted they were working but, who knows, maybe they were doing a night study. She peaked above the surface to see if anyone was on the back of the boat. She didn't see anyone so she dove under the water to check the sides and front of the boat. Unfortunately for her, she might have realized there were people working on the boat if she had stayed above the surface for just a moment longer.

"There's nothing out here." One of the workers on board said as he came around the stern of the boat. "I don't know why Denman has us working these hours."

"Me neither." The other man stated. "They'll start the boat soon and we'll be heading back to the main land."

Rikki knew she was probably too close to the boat and that's when it happened. Before she had a chance to dive a little further, the propellers on the boat's engine turned on and the blades painfully dug into her shoulder. She dove deeper, her vision blurred with red. She must be bleeding a lot and she hoped she didn't attract any sharks. She didn't know if she could use her powers to steer them away right now.

She vaguely heard the motor stop running and she knew she had to find a way to get her shoulder out of the water. She needed to break the surface but she didn't know how to do that without drawing attention to herself. She decided the best way would be to lean as close to the boat as she possibly could.

"What was that?" She heard a man on board yell as he ran by.

"I don't know." Another man responded. "We must have hit something."

"Check the cameras." The first man said. Rikki saw the man walking by the boat and she prayed she could blend in. Unfortunately, her luck seemed to be running out today.

"We hit you?" The man said to her in surprise. It was pretty obvious they had nabbed Rikki with the engine. She was bleeding all over the side of the boat. "What the hell are you doing out here?"

More men headed in her direction and were obviously surprised to find a teenage girl clinging to the side of their boat. Maybe they thought they hit a Mako shark or a large fish. It was dark outside and they only had the dim lights on the boat to help them see. She doubted they could see her tail. They were muttering things she couldn't register but then one man said something that caught her attention.

"Let's get her on board."

No. No, she couldn't get on Deman's boat. She had to go home. There's no way they would let her leave if they pulled her up and saw her tail. They'd experiment on her until she died. Then again, if she dove under the water, she would likely run into a school of Mako sharks and have to fend them off, powerless.

Before she could decide which would be the lesser of two evils, a few men were trying to pull her on board. She knew she was much heavier as a mermaid than she was as a human so they were probably shocked with the weight difference too. She decided then she would rather take her chances with the sharks and tried to dive out of the men's grasp but it was too late. They already had her halfway above the water and they were about to reveal her tail.

Soon, she was on the boat and she saw all the men in black staring at her as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing. She felt as if she might as well have been laying naked in front of them. She desperately wanted to say something or tell one of them to say something but she couldn't find the words. Finally, one of the men spoke.

"I think we should take this one back to Dr. Denman."

Rikki wanted to fight. She wanted to lean over the edge of the boat and dive back into the water. She wanted to beg them not to take her, to just leave her and, if they were feeling generous, bandage her shoulder. Anything but take her to that horrid marine biologist. She couldn't bring herself to do anything as she lay exposed in front of all of Denman's men and felt her vision start to blur.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Zane woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. He found his mermaid, he was officially in a relationship with Rikki, he knew nearly all of her secrets, what more could a man want?

Zane looked at his digital clock on the bedside table and saw it only read 8:00. He supposed it might be too early to give Rikki a call so he settled on sending her a good morning text. He got out of bed and looked out to the pool in his backyard. It wouldn't be a bad day to lounge around the pool, he thought. At least until he heard from Rikki and decided when they would meet up at the cafe. He threw on a pair of swim trunks and a t-shirt before going down to the pool.

It was a bit warm outside already so he took a quick dip in the water before he got comfortable on his float. He wondered how cool it must be to be a mermaid. Sure, it came with its trials but swimming in the ocean with the fish, the turtles and the dolphins must be amazing. He found himself slightly jealous of Rikki and the others.

He suddenly found himself getting sleepy again and dozed off on his float. It certainly wouldn't be the first time it happened, nor would it be the last, Zane suspected. However, after what felt like five minutes, he heard his father talking to him.

"I'm off." Harrison started. Zane looked up to see his dad dressed in business casuals with his briefcase in hand. Even on the weekend the man found work to do. "Afternoon consult. While you're lounging around, why don't you clean the pool? Do something more useful with your time."

Zane would have retorted with some smart ass comment but his dad's words 'afternoon consult' caught Zane's ear. It was afternoon already? Rikki had probably texted him back by now or maybe even called him. Miriam or other girls he dated might have blown his phone up if he didn't answer within ten seconds but Rikki didn't seem like the type. She was much more casual.

Zane flipped off the float and swam to the edge of the pool, pushing himself onto the concrete ground. He quickly dried off and checked his phone for any missed messages. He did notice it was already 11:30 and he still hadn't received a text or phone call from Rikki. It wouldn't surprise him if he learned she liked to sleep until noon so he wasn't incredibly worried but he did feel a pit forming in his stomach.

 _She's probably at the JuiceNet_ Zane thought. _Maybe she forgot to charge her phone last night._

He made his way back inside the house, took a quick shower, threw on some clothes and headed out to the cafe, hoping she would be there. He wouldn't know where else to look besides the moon pool. Still, that seemed like a place she would go to think if something went wrong. He supposed she could have had an argument with her dad or the girls that would have distracted her from meeting up with him but he hoped that wasn't the case. He really just wanted to spend a happy, go-lucky day with his new girlfriend.

He scanned the juice bar once he arrived and was disappointed to see Rikki wasn't there. Maybe she was in the bathroom, he thought. He might as well grab a juice and wait for her. Maybe she was still asleep. Maybe he should try to call her after he finished his juice. Maybe she forgot they were supposed to hang out and met up with the other girls instead. That thought was tossed out the window when he saw Emma, Cleo and Lewis walk into the cafe without Rikki.

After he finished his juice, he gave Rikki a call like he planned to do. Her phone was switched off. That was odd. Rikki hardly ever had her phone switched off. Then again, if she was in the moon pool or in her mermaid form, she probably couldn't answer her phone anyway. Still, he felt the bad feeling sitting in the pit of his stomach grow.

He saw a woman with blonde hair approach Lewis that he didn't recognize. She pulled him away from the two girls to talk to Lewis alone. That was odd too, the woman looked to be in her early thirties; what was she needing with Lewis? Not that Zane didn't feel comfortable asking about Rikki's whereabouts in front of Lewis, but he saw this as a perfect opportunity to see if the girls knew where Rikki was.

"Hey, guys," Zane said as he approached their booth. Cleo looked as friendly as ever, Emma not so much. "Have you seen or heard from Rikki today?"

"No," Cleo replied, her eyebrows furrowing. "We thought she was with you."

Now Zane was really worried. It wasn't like Rikki to not be with either him or the two girls. At least not this late in the day.

"You haven't heard from her either?" Emma asked.

"No," Zane swallowed the frog that was suddenly in his throat. "I've been trying to get a hold of her today but I haven't heard anything. I just called her and her phone's switched off.

"I guess I'll go look for her." Zane said after a moment. "I'll let you know if I find her."

He exited the cafe and headed out to the docks. He should have asked the girls where Rikki lived because he had no idea. The only place he could think to search was the moon pool. She might be at his house but that seemed unlikely unless she was looking for him to meet up at the JuiceNet. Still, he felt Mako was a better place to look.

He hopped on his Zodiac and took off towards Mako. He didn't bother to check the petrol and hoped he had enough to make it to and from Mako. He always loved how fast the Zodiac was but he suddenly found himself wanting it to go faster. He needed to be at Mako now.

He stumbled on the land once he arrived and started running toward the moon pool entrance, hoping he could still find it. He soon arrived at the entrance and slid down the tunnel, and started running as quickly as he could into the entrance of the moon pool.

The crystal blue pool was empty, at least what he could see. Could she hide under the surface? Surely she could breathe underwater so sitting at the bottom of the moon pool likely wasn't difficult for her.

"Rikki?!" He called, not sure what response, if any, he was expecting. He looked over the edge to see if he could see her sitting at the bottom. There didn't appear to be anything in the pool, not even fish that might swim in from the ocean.

Zane exited the inside of the volcano knowing she wasn't here either. Where the hell could she be? He thought about calling her again but was quickly reminded there was no cell phone service on Mako. He instead decided to switch his phone off. He likely had a few missed texts from Nate and his other mates but he didn't want to hear from them. He needed to concentrate on finding Rikki.

As he sped back to the main land, he decided the last place he could look would be his home. It seemed very unlikely but not impossible for her to be there. If she wasn't, he'd go back to the JuiceNet cafe and wait. He didn't know what else to do.

"Zane!" He heard his father yell as soon as he entered. It wasn't how his father typically called his name. He was usually stern and unwelcoming. This time he sounded, dare he say, excited.

Zane entered their main room to see his dad still sitting in his business casuals, briefcase placed on the counter.

"I've been trying to call you." Harrison told his son. Again, he didn't sound upset like he had when Harrison had told Zane about his business lunch to develop Mako weeks ago. He sounded like he was trying to keep an exciting secret.

"I had my phone switched off." Zane replied as he took a seat farther from his father on the large sectional. "What's up?"

"You were right." Harrison told him.

"That's always good news." Zane replied. "Right about what?"

"Mermaids." Harrison replied.

Zane's brain started racing. How could his dad know about mermaids? Had one of the girls accidentally exposed themselves? His dad knew all three girls, he wouldn't be this excited if he knew one or all of them were mermaids. He'd be more confused than anything and he certainly wouldn't be telling Zane until he knew all the facts.

"What?" Was all Zane could bring his mouth to say.

"Yep." Harrison replied. "Now, I know you and your friends have your reservations about the Mako Island development but it is happening-"

"No!" Zane interjected. "You can't develop it. What about all the stuff Rikki said at the lunch?"

"Yes, what she said was exactly that." Harrison said. "Stuff. I already have the wheels turning on the project and intend to make it as eco-friendly as possible, as a compromise to you and your friends."

 _Funny, we never asked for a compromise._ Zane thought. He'd have to talk to Rikki about this as soon as he found her. They might need to start their petition, contact the press and whatever else they need to do sooner rather than later.

"What does this have to do with mermaids?" Zane asked.

"I hired a marine biologist, Dr. Linda Denman, to do studies on the area." Harrison said. "Fish population counts, data analysis, boring stuff really. That was until last night. Her team captured a mermaid right off the coast of Mako last night."

"What?!" Zane exclaimed, standing so quickly from the sectional he felt a bit light headed. The captured mermaid in question had to be Rikki. He had seen Cleo and Emma when his dad would have been at his consult. She had told him they weren't aware of any other mermaids in the area.

He started to feel more and more light headed as he realized this must be her worst nightmare. He didn't know anything about this Dr. Denman but the way his dad had said she 'captured' a mermaid didn't sound like she was a friendly type that would keep Rikki's secret. What were they doing to her? Was she okay? Hell, was she even alive?

"What's the matter, son?" Harrison asked as Zane realized he was pacing the living room. "You've been after this mermaid for ages and you were right about it, this isn't how I thought you'd react."

"Dad," Zane started feeling the frog return to his throat. "Have you seen this mermaid?"

"No," Harrison replied. "Dr. Denman plans on showing me tomorrow after she finishes running some tests. I was able to persuade her to let me bring you tomorrow, if you'd like to come."

Tests? What kind of tests were they running on Rikki? Her life was never going to be the same again. A part of Zane knew he couldn't have known this was coming. He didn't know about this marine biologist until a few minutes ago, he couldn't have protected her but a part of himself cursed himself into oblivion for not keeping his promise. He didn't protect her.

"Why can't we go now?" Zane asked.

"It's late, Zane." Harrison said. Zane had barely noticed the sun was starting to set. "Her labs are closed. We can't very well go barging in there after hours. We'll leave first thing in the morning to see her, I promise."

Zane wanted to say something, anything, to his father but he couldn't find the words. He was pacing the floor again and he could feel tears brimming in his eyes and he knew that was a sign to head up to his room, away from his father. He let the thought sit in his mind; Rikki was in danger and there was nothing he could do about it.

He collapsed on his bed and stared at the ceiling for seconds, minutes or hours, he didn't know which. He remembered his phone was still switched off. He supposed he should check it before the end of the day. Maybe, by some miracle, the mermaid this Dr. Denman had captured wasn't Rikki. Maybe Rikki had texted him hours ago saying she was at the cafe waiting for him. He hoped for some sort of miracle to appear on his home screen.

He missed a few calls and texts from people he couldn't give a flying fuck about at the moment. He deleted the conversations before he came across a text from someone who never texted him. From someone he had briefly spoken to earlier today.

'Rikki's been captured by a marine biologist, the blonde lady at the cafe. We're trying to get as much info as we can. I thought you should know. -Emma'

Zane supposed he had to reply to one text today.

'I'm going to her lab tomorrow. Stay out of it, she might find out about you guys too. I'll take care of it, I promise.'


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Rikki felt the sun on her eyes and she went to push off the ground before she remembered where she was. They had handcuffed her to the floor of a large lab, the water sprinklers on the ceiling had not stopped running since she had been brought in to the area. Her injured shoulder had a large bandage taped to the back of it, although she suspected they didn't repair it as they should have as it was still in a lot of pain. The inside of her elbows were bruised purple from the amount of time she spent with needles in her veins the day before. She knew they also took from her back so she suspected that was bruised too. She had tried to fight back to one of the men sticking a needle in her arm and he had rewarded her by kicking her in the jaw. On top of that, they had taken a small section from the center of her tail, along where her ankle would be in her human form. She knew she could recover from the bruises and shoulder injury but she wasn't sure what the incision in her tail would mean in her human form. Then again, she wondered if she'd ever been in her human form again.

She had been dumb to go after Denman on her own. She should have brought the others along, but then again, maybe they couldn't have all fought Denman's crew off and they'd all be looking death in the eye. She'd rather it just be her.

She had allowed herself to think of Zane the previous day for a moment. They were supposed to meet up at the cafe yesterday and she had been here, being experimented on like a lab rat. She wondered if he was worried. She wondered if he truly had feelings for her or if his eye caught the Zodiac or he had gotten distracted by Nate and had forgotten about her. It didn't matter. She didn't see how she was going to make it out of this place.

She heard the doors open and knew that must mean Dr. Denman and her team were entering to start a new day of tests. She heard them talking the previous day and she knew they weren't done with her yet. What else could they do besides cut her to pieces?

"Hello, there." She heard Dr. Denman say as she kneeled down to Rikki's level. Rikki didn't say anything all day, wanting Denman to think she was a true mermaid, not at all a normal, Australian, teenage girl. "We've got another day of tests on you and then we'll be heading out to Sydney. We've got some more investors there that are intrigued to meet you."

 _What did that mean?_ Rikki wondered. Were they just going to display her somewhere? Would she be in an aquarium for the rest of her life? Or some billionaire's fish tank?

"Better be prepared for today though, too." Denman told her and she stood up. "You'll have some visitors today."

Again, Rikki found herself wondering what Denman meant but she supposed it didn't matter. Her life as she knew it was long over.

* * *

Zane woke up early, showered and left the house, hoping he was right about a hunch he had. He needed to do one thing before he went to see Rikki today. Well, that and figure out how to take her out from wherever she was. If this marine biologist was working for his father, she was at least somewhat interested in money. She would likely try to sell Rikki for a fortune. He couldn't let that happen. Rikki never asked for any of this and she didn't deserve it.

As he entered the cafe, he confirmed his hunch when he saw the other two mermaids and Lewis sitting at a booth. They seemed to be discussing something in depth. It didn't look like any of them got much sleep the night before but he supposed he didn't look much better.

"Look, I know you want to help but I can't take you with me." He heard Lewis tell the two girls who sat opposite of him.

"Lewis, this is Rikki," Emma replied. "She's one of us, we can't just leave her there."

"Lewis is right." Zane chimed in. The three at the table looked up at him and he took a seat next to Lewis. It wouldn't do them any good if others in the cafe heard them talking about mermaids.

"What do you want?" Emma asked, all of her defenses clearly up now that Zane had joined the group.

"My dad is Denman's investor." Zane told them.

"What, and you just let them take Rikki?" Emma nearly shouted at him.

"No!" Zane replied back. "I didn't know about any of this until yesterday."

"What do you know?" Cleo asked, quietly. She looked like she had been crying for ages. Zane suspected she likely was. It didn't take a genius to see that she was the most sensitive of the group.

"I know Denman has Rikki." Zane said. "My dad came home excited to tell me about it. I guess he supposed I'd be excited to given...well you know..."

"What does this have to do with Rikki?" Lewis asked.

"My dad and I are going to see her today." Zane said, getting the full attention of the group. "He was able to convince Denman to let me come somehow."

"She's letting me go today too." Lewis said. "I used her lab to do research on the girls last time she was in town. She was interested in it but I don't think she knows about my connection so I think she just wants to show me her discovery, scientist to scientist."

"We should go too." Emma followed him up.

"It's too dangerous." Lewis said. "We don't know if she knows about you two yet, you're not putting your lives in danger for no reason. Besides, now I have back up."

Zane gave him a small smile. It was nice to know he was on Lewis' good side. He wasn't sure where he stood with the other two girls.

"Lewis is right." Zane said. "We can handle Denman and we'll save Rikki. You two should stay put."

"Since when do you care about us?" Emma asked.

"Emma, I've known you since we were three years old." Zane said. "And we met Cleo soon after. I know we've had our differences but do you think I would purposefully put your lives in danger?"

"You don't know what kind of money could come from finding mermaids, do you?" Emma asked.

"You think all I care about is money?" Zane replied with a scoff. "Maybe you don't know me at all."

He stood up from the table, knowing he needed to leave. His father was going to wonder where he was and maybe even leave without him. If he needed to be anywhere in his life, he needed to be at that lab. He did all he could do with the two girls, it was their decision if they were going to go or not. He just hoped he had done enough.

"By the way," Zane started before he left. "If all I cared about was money, why would I be trying to help Rikki?"

* * *

Rikki felt the pain of the needle digging into her vein yet again. She'd had blood drawn before and she knew nurses and trained staff would stop if she showed and pain. These people didn't seem to care if they missed her vein. She didn't know how much longer this would go on.

"I'll be back soon." She heard Dr. Denman say to her men. "Our visitors should be arriving any minute now."

Rikki briefly wondered what that meant but she found she didn't care. She had felt like a circus freak from the moment they pulled her from the ocean. She found it difficult to care about anything at the moment.

She was having a hard time keeping track of time. There wasn't a clock she could see in the room, she could only tell if it was night time or day time. She didn't know how long she was laying there before she heard a knock on the display window she was facing away from. It must have been for one of Denman's men. She knew this whole thing was about her but why would anyone need her attention? The knocking continued and she hoped whoever it was for would see what Denman was needing soon because the noise was starting to annoy her.

She saw one of the men come towards her. She thought she would just get another needle to her arm but he grabbed her face and turned her to see the display window. She wasn't expecting Dr. Denman to be alone but she wasn't expecting the other person to be there.

"Lewis?" She whispered to herself.

* * *

"I wonder if she said something." Dr. Denman said from the other side of the glass. "We've tried talking to her but we don't think she speaks English."

"M-maybe not." Lewis stuttered. This was not what he was expecting. He had hoped there would be some ethics to how Dr. Denman treated Rikki but it appeared there were none. Mermaid or not, she was still a living creature.

Lewis tried to think how Zane would feel. He and Zane were very different people but if it were Cleo behind the glass instead of Rikki, he'd lose it. Lewis didn't fight but he'd fight for Cleo. Zane would pick a fight for fun. This was not going to end well.

Before he could ask Dr. Denman anything else, the small doorbell she had for that room rang, signaling more visitors. That had to be Zane and his dad.

"I'll get that." Dr. Denman told Lewis. "I have more questions for you about that cell sample you had last time, so don't run off with the mermaid while I'm gone."

"W-wouldn't dream of it." Lewis replied. He looked back at Rikki again. She looked even worse the second time he looked at her. Her eyes were bloodshot, her jaw looked broken, her arms and back were bruised and he hadn't even noticed a small chunk of her tail that was missing. If they couldn't get Rikki out of here, Lewis and Zane could at least report Dr. Denman for all of this. No way this was ethical practice.

Lewis heard the door Denman had just exited re-open. She heard him talking with Harrison, laughing and joking all the while. Lewis prepared himself for the worst with Zane. Would he have to hold him back, keeping him from bursting into Rikki's enclosure? Would he have to keep him from attacking Denman? He had no idea.

Zane felt his heart racing as he entered the small room. He didn't know what to expect. Would she be in a large tank by herself? Would she be locked in a room, somehow continuously sprayed with water so she would stay in her mermaid form? Out of all the thing he had prepared himself for, even the worst ideas, he didn't expect this.

Zane could feel himself going pale as he looked at her. His heart was shattered into a million pieces and he couldn't remember ever feeling this broken. The tears in his eyes followed. He took a big exhale and covered his mouth. He didn't register anything in the area other than Rikki, laying helpless and beaten on the floor in front of him.

He felt Lewis push him out of the room and he vaguely registered his father interrogating Dr. Denman.

"Zane, you need to get it together." Lewis told him once they stopped in a hallway further from the room.

But he couldn't. Couldn't Lewis tell? What if that was Cleo? Then would Lewis be able to 'get it together'. Instead of taking his frustrations out on Lewis, Zane turned around and hit the wall instead. Lewis was his ally. He needed him here and he needed him level-headed.

"I didn't..." Zane started, still facing the wall. "I should have come earlier this wouldn't have happened."

"Zane, you can't beat yourself up like that." Lewis told him. "You don't know when this started. Maybe it wouldn't have mattered if you came yesterday or not."

"I didn't protect her." Zane said, turning to Lewis.

"She's still alive, Zane." Lewis said.

"Yeah, just barely!" Zane shouted back. "Even if we do get her out of here, by some miracle, she's not going to forget this."

"We have to try." Lewis said after a moment. "We can't change what's happened. We have to try to save her now."

Zane nodded after taking in what Lewis said. He was right. Rikki was still alive. They could still help her. He'd be there for her after all of this too. He'd help her return to the firey, sassy girl she was.

"Okay." Zane replied, wiping his tears. He'd usually be embarrassed to cry in front of another man but he knew Lewis understood the circumstances. "What do you suggest we do?"

"Well, it seems elementary but..." Lewis started, pointing to the fire alarm in the corner. "It would give us time alone."

Zane thought for a moment. The fire alarm could work. But what if they didn't buy it? What if they took Rikki with them? How much time would they have to get everything sorted? How were the going to leave with her? Still, he couldn't think of any better plan other than knocking out every person in that room. This seemed less messy though.

"All right." Zane told Lewis. "Let's do it."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Rikki was shocked to see Denman had brought in Lewis and Zane. She supposed it made sense. Lewis had been experimenting on them last time Denman was in town and she likely saw a similarity in her cell sample and the one Lewis brought in months ago and wanted to share her discovery with him.

It took her a bit longer to understand why Zane was here but then she realized he was there with Harrison. Denman had said something about an investor. Was Harrison Denman's investor? Maybe he brought Zane along since he was so keen on mermaids. She wondered if this was just a whole ploy put together by the Bennetts. Maybe Zane had tricked her into trusting him when he was planning on selling her off to Denman all along. When she saw the broken look on his face, she supposed that wasn't true. Or did he just not think they wouldn't torture her this much? She needed to pull her trust in him back until she found out what was really going on.

Then again, was she going to be able to find out what was really going on? She saw Lewis push Zane out of the room and was currently watching Harrison yell at Denman. Was she dumb to think she had a chance of making it out of here now that Zane and Lewis had arrived?

Suddenly, she heard a loud siren that she figured was a fire alarm. She heard the door behind her open shortly after that, thinking the men were leaving.

"What about the mermaid?" One of the men asked.

"Leave it," she heard Denman say. "The fire department isn't far and we know the fire isn't here. She'll be fine."

Would she really be? What if Denman was wrong? What if the fire was right next door? She'd be burnt up before the fire department arrived. But maybe that was better than whatever life lay ahead of her as a mermaid.

Rikki watched as Harrison, Denman and her men left the room. She was alone for the first time in days and she somehow felt more nervous than she had before. She wondered if she would be okay like Denman said or if she was in danger.

To Rikki's surprise, she heard the door reopen a few moments later. She didn't think the firemen would be able to get to her this quickly. Then again, her timing had been off the past few days. Maybe it had been a several minutes. That is until she heard two voices she recognized.

"You find the keys to her handcuffs and I'll turn the water off." She heard the voice that belonged to Lewis. She felt a sense of relief flow through her. She was still nervous. Whatever plan they had might not work. What would Denman do to her if it didn't? Or worse, what would she do to them?

Rikki felt and heard the water turn off. The floor beneath her was still wet so it would take a while before she could turn back into a human. Unless she could use her power somehow.

She heard Lewis's footsteps and another pair walking around the wet floor. One pair approached her and she heard he had a set of keys with him.

"Hey," she heard Zane say softly, in a broken voice. "I'm so sorry. I should've-"

"It's okay." She cut him off. She felt her left hand come free of the handcuffs on the ground and heard him move to her right arm. "It's not your fault. I was dumb."

Rikki felt her right hand come free and she sat up and flipped herself over to look around her. She couldn't hold herself up for long due to her shoulder injury and likely the pain in her arms. She settled on propping herself up on her elbows, leaning most of her weight on her non-injured side.

"All right," Lewis started. "We need to get rid of any and all documentation on you, Rikki. I'll take the computers, Zane you look through any papers. Rikki, can you dry yourself off?"

"I think so," she said as she watched the two boys hustle around the lab. She squeezed her hand, watching the water around her evaporate. It was painful but not as painful as she thought it would be. Besides, it would be much more difficult for them to escape with her still in her mermaid form. She needed to be human. How were they going to get her out of here?

Zane seemed to answer that question as the room started steaming up. He noticed a large, black duffle bag sitting in the corner of the room.

"Lewis." Zane started, moving away from the papers. Everything in the lab seemed to be about Rikki.

"What is it?" Lewis asked not taking his eyes off the computer screen.

"We could sneak her out in this." Zane said. The room started to clear of the fog and Rikki felt herself transform back to normal. She could hide in the bag. This plan might actually work.

"All right." Lewis said, not having much of a better plan. "Have you gone through all the papers?"

"Just take everything." Zane said as he grabbed the duffle and threw all the cameras and other equipment onto the floor. "It looks like it all has to do with her anyway."

"Tell me about it." Lewis said. "I'm wiping this computer and then I'll get all the papers."

Zane placed the duffle beside Rikki and helped her move into it. They would certainly have to take her to a hospital after this. Her ankle looked like it got caught in a wood chipper, he could see blood oozing out of her shoulder and her jaw was swollen and bruised, not to mention all the markings on her arms and back. If he didn't know any better, he'd break down again but he knew he had fight through it and get her out of here.

Lewis stuffed all the papers in the duffle bag with Rikki. There wasn't any clear way to quickly destroy them in the lab so the next best solution was to take the papers for themselves. Once they had confirmed the computer was wiped of any information and all the papers on Rikki were in their possession, they needed to figure out the next step in their plan.

"How do we get out?" Lewis asked. "We can't just walk out the front door."

"There's a back way." Rikki replied. "I can show you."

"Rikki, I don't know if that's-" Zane started.

"Well it's not like we've got much of a choice." Rikki said. She was right. He didn't want to risk her being seen by Denman or her henchmen but she was right, he and Lewis didn't know this lab at all. They couldn't be wandering around, hoping the next door would be an exit. They had no other choice.

The two boys left the lab out of another door, Zane carrying Rikki in the open duffle bag. She told them when and where to make turns. It seemed everyone had cleared the building because of the alarm. Zane hoped that was true. He wouldn't know what they would do to Rikki if they found her trying to escape.

Soon, they reached the back door and were outside. They were nearly in the clear. But now what? They couldn't very well take the duffle over to Denman and her crew, they'd probably recognize it, or at the least, wonder why Zane suddenly had a duffle bag when he didn't enter with one.

"Leave me here." Rikki told them.

"What?" Zane exclaimed. "Rikki, that's out of the question."

"Why?" Rikki asked. "You can't take me over to them."

"She's right." Lewis told Zane.

"But-" Zane started. They couldn't really wait here either. Denman and her men needed to see Zane and Lewis again, otherwise they'd know they took Rikki. At least if they showed up with the crowd, they could maybe suspect a fireman took Rikki. They heard the fire truck sirens when Zane thought of an idea.

"I have an idea." Zane said. "We'll leave you here but not for long."

Zane set the bag Rikki was in on the ground and took off with Lewis toward the others.

"Zane!" His father shouted when he saw him. His dad actually looked a bit scared when he arrived. "Where were you?"

"We got lost." Zane said motioning to Lewis behind him.

"Well, I suppose I'm glad your safe." Harrison told him. "The firemen are inspecting the building now. And son... you should know, I didn't know the mermaid was Rikki. I wouldn't have-"

"I know, Dad." Zane said. "It's fine. Speaking of that, I actually need your help."

Lewis couldn't hear what Zane was talking to his dad about. Zane seemed to have a plan though and Lewis needed to trust him with that. Harrison nodded and Lewis saw him place something in Zane's hand.

"All right." Zane said to Lewis as he came back to him. "I'll create a distraction, you go back around and get Rikki. Put her in my dad's car."

Zane dropped the item Lewis saw Harrison give to him in Lewis's own hand. It was a set of car keys. Lewis figured this was as close to the perfect plan they could get. Once Rikki was in the car, she would be free from Denman.

"You can't lose her, Lewis." Zane told him in as serious of a voice he'd ever heard from the rich, bad boy.

"I know." Lewis responded, thinking of how torn up he'd be of he lost Cleo. He couldn't let Zane down. "I won't."

Lewis watched Zane walk away from him and start running into the building. Zane could be cruel but he must have told his dad there was no fire. Still, Harrison played into Zane's distraction and called for his son to come back. The two Bennetts seemed to have thoroughly distracted Denman and her crew. Lewis took off toward the back of the building, making sure he was unnoticed.

Once he reached the back door, he noticed the black bag was still there. Rikki must have closed the zipper after they left to hide from anyone who would come back there.

"It's me." Lewis told her as he picked up the bag and started walking toward Harrison's car. The timing seemed to line up perfectly as Zane and Harrison were exiting the building as Lewis was getting to their car. He opened the trunk, placed the bag inside and quickly closed it. As soon as he turn around, he was able to lock eyes with Zane and both men could see the relief in each other's eyes.

"Well, thank you for your hospitality, Dr. Denman but I suppose I should be getting Zane home." Harrison told the evil doctor.

"Of course," Denman replied, a look of confusion still on her face from Zane's sudden outburst.

"Lewis, do you need a ride home?" Harrison asked as he approached him.

"Yeah sure," Lewis replied. As Harrison and Zane got closer to him, Lewis slipped the keys back into Harrison's possession. The three men walked the short distance to Harrison's car, Zane choosing the front seat for now and Lewis taking the back.

Rikki heard the three men get into the car. She could feel herself shaking with excitement and fear. What if they somehow got caught at the last minute? It didn't really hit her until now how traumatizing everything she had been through was going to be. What if she had nightmares about this? How would she explain this to her dad? The thought of explaining this to just the girls seemed like a daunting task, let alone anyone else. She started to peak out of the duffle bag when she heard a voice that stopped her.

"Not yet." Lewis said. "They can still see us."

She shrunk back to being as small as possible. She felt small. She knew threats existed for mermaids. She had been worried about sharks before but she knew if she cut her shoulder on a boat again, she'd take her chances swimming with said sharks.

"I think we're out of sight." She heard Harrison say. The car turned into a mad house as soon as the final words left Harrison's mouth. Lewis was helping her unzip the duffle bag and Zane jumped into the very back of the car to be with her, taking her in his arms. She grabbed him back, just as fiercely. She had suspected Lewis had awkwardly turned around to face the front.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered to her as he held her.

"Don't," she replied back in a fierce whisper. "You saved my life."

Zane nodded against her, fighting back tears. He could feel her shaking against him which didn't make any of this easier. They'd have to talk about this, about everything but the back of his dad's car didn't seem to be a good place to do it.

"We'll be at the hospital soon," he told her. "They'll take care of you."

Rikki nodded against him. She too was fighting back tears but knew this wasn't the place to break down and cry. She knew he'd want to talk about this but she wasn't sure if she was ready.

* * *

**AN: To be honest, one of my least favorite chapters I've written so I definitely don't blame you guys if you don't love it. Oh well, at least Rikki is safe now! The next several chapters will dive into Rikki dealing with the aftermath of this ordeal with Dr. Denman so just as a warning. It's not very graphic at all, I don't think but I at least wanted to give a warning before I go any further.**

**I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

It didn't take long for Rikki to be checked into the hospital. She saw all the jaws of the receptionists drop when she entered the waiting room and wanted to laugh. She must have looked awful.

Lewis, Zane and Harrison told the hospital staff she had been kidnapped. Rikki supposed that wasn't too far from the truth. Denman and her men had taken her away from her home and held her against her will. She had excepted to have to take a seat in the waiting room but a nurse was sent to lead her back to a room to be examined.

"No!" Rikki found herself exclaiming before she could even begin to think. What was she saying? Of course she should be examined. They could help her.

She felt everyone's eyes on her. She hated being the center of attention. Everything had been about her since she was pulled onto that damn boat...

"I can go with her." She heard Zane tell the nurse. He seemed to read her mind, she didn't want to be alone. Not with strangers. She looked at the nurse and nodded at her as if to say she was okay with that. The nurse gave her a nod back and helped her get set in a wheelchair. Rikki had almost forgotten about her fucked up ankle. She couldn't walk on it but then again, she wondered what all was broken or bruised on her body.

She was pushed by the nurse back to a hospital room where she got situated on a bed. The nurse said she was going to take a few x-rays and would get back to Rikki.

"We called the girls." She heard Zane tell her. She forgot he was in the room. "They're calling your dad. I think they should be here soon."

"All right." Was all Rikki could bring herself to say. She didn't feel like herself. She had a feeling Zane could sense that.

"I mean..." Zane started. "Well, if you don't want visitors I can-"

"No." She cut him off. "No, it's fine."

"Rikki, you don't have to-"

"Zane," she started again. "I said it's fine. Just leave it, okay?"

"Okay." Zane said after a moment.

There was a blank pause again. Rikki still felt like her sense of time was still messed up. She didn't know if seconds, minutes or hours passed before Zane spoke again.

"You know, it's okay to not be okay." He told her. "After all you went through."

"Look," she started after a moment. "I know you're trying to help but... I'm not really in the mood to open up about...her right now."

Zane didn't miss Rikki fighting back before she said 'her'. He couldn't tell if it was tears or rage or what she was fighting back but Denman had done a number on her, that was for sure. At first, Zane thought that would have been impressive but then he thought Rikki might be a little more sensitive that she led on.

"Okay." Zane told her. "What do you want?"

"I..." Rikki started. "I don't know."

Rikki's nurse seemed to have the perfect timing as she came in with an x-ray machine. She had Zane step out of the room, to Rikki's protest. He was able to stand just outside of her hospital window though so she could see him as the x-rays were being performed. The nurse informed her she would be getting this information to the doctor and he would be in soon.

Zane re-entered the room as the nurse left.

"The girls just arrived." Zane told her. "And your dad is on his way if you want any more visitors."

"I guess if they want to see me." Rikki told him.

"Rikki, of course everyone wants to see you." Zane told her. "They've been worried sick-"

"Don't rub it in." Rikki cut him off.

"What are you talking about?" Zane asked.

"Nothing." Rikki said after a moment. "If they want to come back, I guess they can."

"No," Zane put his foot down. "Not with you like this. We'll just wait until the doctor comes in and we'll see how you're feeling then."

Rikki didn't say anything in reply. She was closed up again, like before Zane found out she was a mermaid. No, this was much worse. He had no idea what was going on with her. He had no idea how she had been captured in the first place and what all she endured at Denman's labs. Then again, Zane supposed her irritably was justifiable for once. He had to stumble upon her mermaid identity for her to open up to him. He doubted he was going to be able to just stumble upon any information related to her kidnapping. She would have to open up to him.

The doctor came in a few moments later. He was carrying a clipboard and was followed in by the same nurse from before.

"Hello, Ms. Chadwick." The doctor, English, greeted her. "I'm sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances and I'm sorry for what's happened to you."

 _I'm sure she'll love that opening line_ , Zane thought has he twiddled his thumbs from his chair. Zane didn't miss Rikki's eye roll as Dr. English looked down at his clipboard.

"We ran your x-rays and we do have quite a bit of work to do." Dr. English continued. "Your right ankle is fractured in multiple places. Looks like a bone might actually be missing, but we can always replace that with a metal plate. Your shoulder itself is fine but we do need to perform stitches on the large cut on your back. Your jaw doesn't seem to be dislocated, only bruise so we'll just have to wait for that to heal on it's on and your arms, well, we can't do anything but wait on those to heal on your own as well, unfortunately. We may still need to insert an IV but we will only do it when necessary."

"Do you have to do it at all?" Rikki asked.

"During the surgery we need to perform on your ankle, yes, we do." Dr. English told her. "We need to keep an eye on several items such as-"

"I'm healthy." Rikki cut him off. "I'll be fine."

"Rikki," Zane tried, shaking his head. She didn't look at him.

"We will be back to transfer you to surgery." Dr. English said. "In the mean time, Mr. Bennett, do you think you could follow me out into the halls?"

He saw Rikki shake her head, vigorously in the corner of his eye.

"No," Zane told the doctor.

"Mr. Bennett," Dr. English tried again. "We need to speak to you about Ms. Chadwick's situation when you found her-"

"Well, Ms. Chadwick doesn't want me to leave, does she?" Zane shot back. "I found her with Lewis McCartney. He should be in the waiting room if you have any questions. He knows everything I do."

"Very well." Dr. English said. "I should let you both know we can't have any one in the operating room besides the patients themselves for safety reasons but if you would like to stand outside the window until Ms. Chadwick goes under, that would be fine, Mr. Bennett."

Zane nodded. Rikki still stared at the ends of her feet, popping up from under the blankets.

"Thanks." She muttered to Zane once the doctors left.

"No problem." He replied.

"I don't know why they need to operate now." Rikki said. "I haven't see my dad or Cleo or Emma in what feels like ages."

"I know." Zane said. "But once you're out of surgery, you'll be able to see them for as long as you want."

"That's not true." Rikki said. "There's visiting hours. He's cutting into my time with them."

"Rikki, you're going to have to get these surgeries one way or other." Zane told her. "He's going to cut into your time either way."

Rikki sighed in response. He took that as a sign that he was right but to drop the topic. He looked down at the ground until the nurse came back with a wheelchair for Rikki.

"First, we need you to change into this robe." The nurse told Rikki. "Either I can help you or another nurse-"

"Zane can," Rikki told the nurse without hesitation. Zane felt himself blush at the implication. Rikki had volunteered him to undress her, completely.

"Ms. Chadwick, I'm afraid that's not an option." The nurse told her, looking between her and Zane.

"Rikki, I can stand outside of the door-" Zane tried.

"No!" Rikki shouted. "I'm not letting someone I don't know touch me! Not again."

She got more quiet at the end of her sentence, as if she had shared too much information. Zane shared a look of concern with the nurse.

"All right." The nurse seemed to give in. "Just knock when you're done."

The nurse left the robe beside Rikki's bed, pulled down the curtain on her window and exited the room.

"What was that?" Zane asked.

"I'm..." Rikki started. "I'm sorry. I guess this isn't how either of us had imagined seeing one of us naked for the first time but..."

"It's okay." Zane said. "I'll help you."

"Thanks." Rikki told him. He could tell she was fighting back tears.

He carefully helped her undress. Despite any rumors that had gone around, he was still a virgin and had yet to see a woman naked in person. He had to remind himself now was not the time to lose his mind over Rikki. That was for another time. When her dad wasn't in the waiting room, waiting to hear what kind of shape his daughter was in. When she wasn't covered in bruises and scars and clearly having a hard time grasping reality.

He helped her get into her robe in no time and even helped her get into her wheelchair. He knocked on the door as the nurse had instructed and she came in to push Rikki to the surgery unit.

Once they arrived at the room, Zane watched through the window as the doctors placed her on another bed. He could feel her tense up as they placed an IV in her arm. He could see the pain in her face too. Maybe an IV is what the bruises were from, Zane couldn't know for sure. He watched as she started to fall out of consciousness and he had to remind himself that she was supposed to be asleep for the surgery. This was supposed to happen. Still, he felt like he couldn't catch his breath. He felt like his brain was running a million miles an hour and that his body couldn't keep up. He had the hallucinating thought that it wasn't Dr. English in the operating room, it was Dr. Denman. She wasn't trying to help Rikki, she was trying to profit off of her. She didn't care about her health, she didn't care if she was alive, she just cared that Rikki was a mermaid.

"Mr. Bennett?" He vaguely heard someone say before the world around home went black.

* * *

**AN: Happy Thursday! I don't think I'll be able to post a chapter on Friday so I thought I'd post this one early. I hope you guys have been enjoying the story so far! For those of you who enjoy these longer stories, get ready because I think this one is going to be much longer than I had anticipated. For those of you who like shorter stories lol sorry.**

**Thanks again for all the love on this story! I'll be back with a new chapter on Monday!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Zane felt himself wake up. He was outside of Rikki's room as she was starting her surgeries but now he could tell his was on a bed. How did that happen? More importantly, was Rikki okay?

Zane shot up from his bed at the thought. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he realized he wasn't in the room alone. There was a nurse at the foot of his bed and his dad had his hand on Zane's shoulder. Zane felt he was breathing hard which seemed to be the only thing that made sense. The last thing he remembered standing outside of Rikki's operating room was that he couldn't catch his breath.

"It's all right, son." He heard his dad tell him. Zane felt him gently pushing him back onto the bed and Zane complied. He was still as confused as he had ever been.

"What happened?" Zane asked the room, not really caring who answered.

"You had a panic attack." The nurse replied. "We found you outside of Ms. Chadwick's operating room, starting to hyperventilate and you passed out soon after."

"Rikki," Zane muttered, more to himself than anything. "How is she?"

"She's in recovery." The nurse told him. "Her surgeries were successful as were the stitches on her shoulder."

"I need to see her." Zane said, trying to move out of the bed before the IV's in his arms pulled him back. He let out a cry of pain.

"Zane," his father warned him. "You need to stay here for now. Once you're cleared, you can go see Rikki."

"Is she alone?" Zane asked in a worried tone. She was so hesitant for him to leave her side, he wondered if she woke in a complete state of panic when he wasn't there.

"No," the nurse replied. "She's with her father and three friends. She had asked for you when she woke but we let her know your current state."

 _Great_ , Zane thought. _Just what Rikki needed_.

"We'll monitor your heart rate for another hour, Mr. Bennett." The nurse told him. "If it stays normal, we can discharge you and you can go see Ms. Chadwick."

"All right." Zane responded. "Thanks."

Really, he wanted to fight against the nurse, let her know he was already awake and fine and that Rikki needed him. He was glad she was at least with her family and friends. He could only imagine how that was going. The girls didn't have many secrets from each other and they'd surely want to know what Denman had done to Rikki but he figured she wasn't ready to open up to anyone yet.

Zane briefly wondered when Rikki was going to be ready to talk about it. He knew he was incredibly curious, stubborn and, generally, didn't seem to care if he hurt someone's feelings to find the truth. That all changed with Rikki. He cared for her deeply and as much as he did want to know the truth of what happened to her with Denman, the last thing he wanted was to hurt her feelings.

"You really like this girl, don't you?" Zane heard his dad ask him. _Wasn't it obvious?_ Zane thought. He'd never had a panic attack before.

"Yeah," Zane muttered back.

"I figured." Harrison replied. "When they called me and told me you had a panic attack I almost didn't believe them. It's not like you to be this aware of your feelings."

"I suppose not." Zane replied.

"Zane, I don't mean to sound...unhappy." Harrison started. Here was the kicker. It wasn't like his dad to be this nice, especially not when Rikki was involved. "My dream for you always consisted of you running the business one day and falling in love with the right girl. Now, if you care for Rikki that much, I won't stand in your way but son... she's dangerous."

"How?" Zane shot back in an accusing tone. How dare his dad come after Rikki like that?

"Zane, look around you." Harrison said, motioning around the room. "We're in a hospital because of her."

"We're in a hospital because of the marine biologist you hired." Zane corrected him.

"You think Denman is the only marine biologist that would jump at the chance to profit off a mermaid?" Harrison asked. "Any marine biologist I would have brought in would have done the same thing."

"Maybe you're the problem, then." Zane accused his father.

Harrison took a deep breath before resuming the conversation with his son.

"I'm not arguing, Zane." Harrison said. "I'm just saying, she'll have people after her for the rest of her life. Again, if you truly want to be with her I won't stop you but-"

"Really?" Zane interrupted. "Because that's exactly what it sounds like you are trying to do."

Harrison sighed again, looking down at the floor and shaking his head. Zane knew the argument was over.

"You need to keep your vitals down." Harrison told him. "Arguing with me won't help. Give me a call when you're ready to leave."

Harrison picked up the coat at the end of the room and exited the hospital room. Zane figured his dad must have known he was going to see Rikki after this, otherwise he would have stayed. Zane checked his watch and saw thirty minutes had passed. That would have been just enough time for his dad to drive home and then turn around and drive back to the hospital.

Despite their argument, his dad must have been opening up to the idea of Rikki being around for a while. Zane didn't know if he was genuinely opening up to the girl or if he felt bad about caging her up with Denman. Zane wasn't planning on letting Rikki go anytime soon so he supposed it would be easier if his dad did warm up to her.

Zane grabbed his phone at the thought of Rikki. He wondered if she had it on her or if Denman had destroyed it or what had happened to it. He wondered if she had it, if she would check her text messages. Still, he thought he'd send her one to let her know he was okay and that he was sorry for leaving her alone. He was a bit surprised when she texted back almost instantly saying it was okay and she was glad he was okay.

The next thirty minutes were the longest of Zane's life. He did his best not to get lost in his own head and raise his vitals or worse, trigger another panic attack. He knew if he let himself get lost in everything that had conspired over the last twenty-four hours, he'd spiral. Eventually, his nurse came back in, checked his vitals and let him know he was free to go.

Zane roamed the halls until he found a directory by a window. He looked outside and saw it was pitch black. He supposed visiting hours were over but he had at least try to see Rikki tonight. He quickly located the recovery department on the directory and headed off in that direction. He soon arrived at a desk where he noticed the receptionist must have been packing up for the night.

"I was needing to know what room Rikki Chadwick is in." Zane told the nurse. He hoped a stern face would allow him entrance to Rikki's room. Then again, this was a hospital and he was requesting to see a patient who had been kidnapped so maybe a stern look wasn't the best idea.

The receptionist looked like she was going to tell him off until she looked down at his wrist and saw the band he still had on from his short stay after his panic attack. She sighed slightly and checked her records.

"She's in room 623." The nurse told him. "Just down that hall."

"Thanks." Zane replied as he ran down the hall trying to locate room 623. He quickly found it and saw a pretty, blonde girl through the window, staring at the end of her bed. It was late wasn't it? Shouldn't she be asleep?

Zane opened the door, figuring he was welcome. He was surprised she was alone in her room. Maybe that's why she was still awake.

"Hey," Zane started as he closed the door behind him. "Where did everyone go?"

"Home." Rikki replied, simply. "Visiting hours are over."

"Ah." Zane replied, stuffing his hands in his pockets and shutting the window. He didn't really want to leave as long as Rikki was okay with him staying.

"How did you get in?" She asked him.

"I don't really know. I guess the receptionist thought I was a patient or something." Zane said, motioning to his wrist band.

"Hm." Rikki replied. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." Zane said. "They kept me for an hour after I woke up and my vitals were good so they let me go."

"Good." Rikki said, quietly.

"How about you?" Zane asked as he moved to take one of the seats beside her bed. "How do you feel?"

"I've been better." Rikki replied. "But I've been worse. They have to keep me in the hospital for a few days so I can rehab some of these stupid injuries."

Zane saw her eyes glass over. She moved a hand up to vigorously wipe any tears that would fall away. Rikki was always a little bit broken. Oddly enough, Zane supposed that was one of the reasons he was attracted to her in the first place. Rikki had depth. She wasn't just some mannequin like the other girls he dated, but this was a new level of broken for Rikki. He still cared for her and he wouldn't, no, he couldn't let her down. He just wondered how long it would take for her to heal.

"I can stay." Zane told her. "If you want."

"Please," she replied not even a split second later. "Sorry, I... I just don't want to be alone."

"Okay." Zane said softly. "I'll stay."

"What about your dad?" Rikki asked.

"Screw him." Zane replied with a small smile.

"He won't be worried about you?" Rikki asked.

"I don't really care." Zane told her as he pulled out his phone to switch it off. He assumed his dad would be expecting for Zane to stay at the hospital for a few hours anyway. He'd call him when he left.

Then, Zane realized what Rikki meant by 'stay'.

"Oh, you mean stay here all night?" Zane asked.

"You don't have to." Rikki said as she returned to staring at the end of her bed. "I don't want you to get in trouble or... if you just don't want to."

"No, I'll stay." Zane replied.

"You will?" She asked, returning her eyes to him.

"Yeah." Zane replied. "If that's what you want of course."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" She asked him. Zane was surprised at the question.

"What are you talking about?" Zane asked with a confused smile. "I care about you, Rikki. I want to be here for you."

"I know." Rikki replied. "I guess sometimes I can still see you as the boy who pushed Cleo out to sea on your Zodiac."

"I've changed." Zane said, simply.

Rikki simply smiled at him and looked down at her hands as she twiddled her thumbs. Zane took a closer look at her and realized how tired she looked. He figured she must not have slept well in Denman's lab, if Denman allowed her to sleep. This was her first night in a bed since she had told him she was a mermaid.

"Why don't you get some sleep?" Zane asked her.

"You'll stay?" Rikki asked him in response.

"Of course," Zane replied. "I'll sleep on this chair."

"No," Rikki responded. "You don't have to do that."

"Where else am I supposed to sleep?" Zane asked.

"Well," Rikki started as she moved closer to one side of the bed. "You could always join me."

"You're sure?" Zane asked after a moment.

"I'm sure." Rikki nodded. "I think it would make me feel safer, to be honest. But if you'd rather-"

"No," Zane replied. "No, I'll stay with you."

Zane walked over to the other side of the bed, half expecting Rikki to change her mind or tell him she was joking, but she didn't. Not when he pulled the covers back, not when he kicked off his shoes, not when he laid down beside her, draping an arm around her and getting as close to her as he could. These beds really weren't meant for two people, he supposed.

"Thank you," he heard her mutter as she grabbed his arm that was laid over her. "For everything."

"No problem." Zane replied. He felt her start to shake against him and he wondered if he should say anything or ask if she was okay. Rikki wouldn't say anything if she didn't want to. He doubted this was when she wanted to open up about everything. Instead, he decided to pull her closer to him. He felt her take a big breath and melt against him. It all made his heart explode with love and fear. He worried about Rikki, especially after everything that had happened to her. Would she ever be the same again or would she constantly be in fear of another Dr. Denman or haunted by her presence? Still, apart of himself found he didn't really care if she ever went back to her normal self. He'd still be here for her, like he always had.

Holy shit, was he falling in love with her? Zane didn't get much time to think about this as he felt sleep take him away. He could tell Rikki had drifted off shortly before he did.

* * *

Zane was awoken by the sun shining into their room. He wondered why he wasn't in his own bed at first but then remembered he had fallen asleep at the hospital with Rikki. He looked down and saw she was still fast asleep. He was happy she seemed to be able to get a good night's rest this past night. She deserved it.

As much as he wanted to stay, he knew he should probably leave before a doctor or nurse came in. He gently pulled his hand out of hers and turned over only to be surprised to find he wasn't alone.

"Good morning, sunshine." Lewis said with a mischievous smile.

"Lewis?" Zane asked, as if he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

"Have a good night's sleep?" Lewis asked.

"It's not what it looks like, Lewis." Zane started.

"Sure, sure." Lewis replied as he took a sip of whatever was in the cup beside him.

Just then, the door opened and two more people entered.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty." Emma teased him.

"Ha ha." Zane replied. "I already told Lewis, it wasn't what it looked like. Rikki asked me to sleep with her."

"I think it's sweet." Cleo said, taking a seat behind them.

"Yeah, thanks." Zane replied. He knew it was a compliment but he could remember the last time someone described him as 'sweet'.

"Yeah." Cleo said. "Glad you woke up before her dad got here too."

 _Fair point_ , Zane thought.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Rikki was thankful her friends were able to stay with her while she recovered. She knew it wasn't healthy to need someone she knew around her at all times but she really didn't care at the moment. She had started rehabbing, mostly her ankle and her shoulder, and that was her priority. Maybe she felt that way because she knew her physical injuries would be easier to treat than whatever mental scars Dr. Denman had left on her.

She was happy to see everyone, even Emma, seemed to be opening up to the idea of Zane being around. He had been nothing but caring and compassionate towards her since she had told him she was a mermaid. She had also been thankful for him. He made all of this at the least, bearable. She hadn't dare told her dad that Zane was spending the nights with her. Zane would leave her room with the girls, Lewis and her father after visiting hours were over but Zane would sneak back in about twenty minutes later. Rikki suspected he had some sneaking out to do on his own. If she was sure her dad was uncomfortable with the idea of Zane being around, Harrison would definitely be more than uncomfortable to learn his son was sneaking out to spend the night with her. The hospital staff seemed to know what was going on but nobody must have mentioned anything to at least Rikki's dad. She wasn't sure if the girls and Lewis knew about Zane's nightly visits yet or not.

It was Rikki's third night in the hospital when she had her first nightmare about Dr. Denman. Rikki was chained to the cold floor again. She looked to the window to see her two saviors were there, only they didn't look nearly as disturbed as they had previously. They looked, dare she say, happy.

"Nobody cares about you." She heard Zane say to her. "It doesn't matter if you die."

"You were always the odd on out." Lewis said this time. "Cleo and Emma will be happy you're gone. I know I will be."

Their voices were cold and almost robotic. Rikki felt the tears in her eyes. No, Zane was her boyfriend, he cared about her. Cleo and Emma were her best friends, of course they would miss her if she died. Lewis was their confidante, he was always there to help all three of them if they needed it. Then again, maybe none of that was true. Zane was a good-looking, rich, bad boy, he could have any girl he wanted. Why would he choose to be with a freak like her? Cleo and Emma had been best friends long before she barged into the picture with a tail identical to theirs. Lewis was an extension of Cleo, he didn't have to help Rikki. He didn't owe her anything.

"Glad your own friends don't care about you." She heard the marine biologist behind her. "It'll make selling you off a lot easier."

Rikki felt herself fly off the floor and into what must have been the back of a truck. The doors closed and she was locked in the dark. She banged on the doors and screamed for help but a part of her knew nothing would ever arrive. Her friends didn't care about her.

Suddenly, she heard Zane calling her name. He was quiet but his voice was full of concern. She had to find him, maybe he could help her out of the truck. Maybe he could save her from wherever Denman and her crew were taking her.

"Rikki!" She heard before she snapped her eyes open. Zane was hovering over her and she felt like she had just run a marathon. She remembered Lewis and Zane had recused her from Dr. Denman. She was free. She was in the hospital recovering from her injuries. She was okay.

"Are you all right?" Zane asked as he pushed her bangs out of her face.

Rikki nodded. "I'm fine." She said. Her voice was unexpectedly broken so she took a second to clear her throat. "It was just a nightmare."

"What was it about?" Zane asked.

"Nothing." Rikki replied. "I don't really want to talk about it but I'm fine. Let's just go back to sleep."

Zane didn't protest although she could tell he wanted to. He must know her well enough to know she wasn't going to open up about anything until she was ready. Either that or he didn't want to have a fight with her at midnight.

Rikki rolled back onto her side so her back was facing Zane. He draped his arm back over her like he usually did. She grabbed onto that arm and held it as tightly as she could and pushed herself as close to him as possible. He had to have known whatever this nightmare was, terrified the hell out of her but she didn't care. She couldn't force herself to be independent if she wanted to.

* * *

"A nightmare?" Emma asked the next day in the cafeteria. She was joined by Cleo, Lewis and Zane, the latter had just told them about Rikki's nightmare the night previous.

"What was the nightmare about?" Cleo asked.

"I don't know." Zane replied. "She wouldn't tell me. You know how Rikki is."

"Did she say anything in her sleep?" Lewis asked.

"Not really." Zane replied. "She kept mumbling 'no' and 'help' and..."

"What?" Cleo asked after a moment.

"My name." Zane said. "Right before she woke up."

"Maybe she was asking you to help her from her nightmare." Emma said. "Which you did."

"Yeah maybe," Zane said.

"You don't think so?" Emma asked.

"It's just..." Zane started. "A part of me wonders if she trusts me. I know she cares for me and all but after Denman... I don't know."

"Of course she trusts you." Cleo told him. "She told you the secret."

"No, I just sort of found out." Zane said. "The only thing she showed me was everything at Mako. I thought we were getting somewhere and she'd feel like she could trust me with everything, but after all this... it just feels like she's taken two steps backwards. Not just with me but with all of us. You all know she's not okay."

"No, she's not." Emma said after a moment. "But that's why we all have to be there for her. She'll be back to the stubborn, sassy Rikki we all knew soon if we work together to help her."

Emma was right. It might take a long time but eventually this will all just be a bad memory to Rikki. He heard time heals all wounds and he certainly hoped that was true.

The gang left the cafeteria a few minutes later and headed back to Rikki's room. They were surprised to see her dad standing outside room with Rikki's doctor.

"Well, I will let you talk to Rikki about it then." They heard doctor tell Terry Chadwick before walking off.

"Talk to Rikki about what?" Zane asked the older man once the doctor was out of ear shot.

"Well, I'm glad you all are back," Terry started. "I might need some help."

"Help with what?" Cleo asked him.

"Rikki's doctor thinks she should go to therapy." Terry told them. "To talk about her experience and heal from it."

"I think that's a great idea." Emma said.

"Yeah, but opening up about your feelings and experiences?" Zane said. "Rikki? I don't think so."

"I agree with you both." Terry said. "But maybe with your help, we can convince her to go."

The group re-entered Rikki's hospital room. She looked up to all of them with a small smile on her face. She was playing the tough guy like she always did.

"Hey, guys," she said as they all took their seats or stood by her bed. "What did the doctor say, Dad?"

"He said you are recovering well and should be okay to return home tomorrow." Terry told his daughter.

"Well that's good news." Rikki told them. "Soon things will be back to normal and you all don't have to spend all day in a hospital."

"He also mentioned he thinks you should go to therapy." Terry told her.

Rikki's smile dropped off her face. She looked like she had seen a ghost.

"What kind of therapy?" She asked, maybe wondering if it was something to do with her ankle or her shoulder.

"The kind where you talk to someone and open up about your feelings and experiences." Terry said.

Rikki looked around the room to see stern looks on everybody's face. She burst into giggles. That wasn't the reaction anyone had been expecting.

"That's funny." She said. "Great suggestion, doc. You told him no, right Dad?"

"Actually, I think it would be a good idea." Terry said. "I bet your friends do too."

"You all are worrying too much." Rikki said. "I'm doing fine, I just need to wait for this ankle and my shoulder to heal and I'm as good as new."

"What about your nightmare?" Lewis piped in.

"What nightmare?" Terry asked.

"The nightmare-" Lewis started before Zane rammed his own foot into Lewis' as discreetly as possible. Her dad couldn't know Zane had been spending the nights.

"The nightmare you said you had last night." Lewis finished.

"You didn't say anything about a nightmare." Terry told Rikki.

"It's not important." Rikki defended. "We all have nightmares, don't we?"

"Rikki, come on," Emma tried. "We all know you're not doing well and that's okay."

"Yeah," Cleo chimed in. "Anyone in your position would be rattled."

"Well, thanks for your concern but I'm fine." Rikki said. "Really, I am. I don't need therapy so you can tell the stupid doctor to forget it."

"Fine." Terry replied. "I'll tell him we're thinking about it."

"Not much to think about." Rikki sulked as she crossed her arms.

"I just think you should is all." Terry told her. "For me."

"Fine." Rikki replied after a moment.

"Good." Terry said. "I have to head off to work, I'll be back to visit before visiting hours are over."

"Yeah, and we should be heading to school." Emma said. "We'll see you later."

Rikki nodded at everyone as they left. Zane stayed rooted to the corner of her bed.

"Zane?" Lewis asked. "Are you coming?"

"Go on." Zane replied. "I'll catch up with you later."

Zane took a seat close to Rikki once the others had left. Rikki wondered what he wanted to talk to her about. Hopefully he wouldn't push the therapy subject but she didn't think she was going to get that lucky.

"What's up?" Rikki asked him, her eyebrows furrowed.

"I just wanted to spend some alone time with my girlfriend." Zane replied.

"Funny," Rikki replied with a small laugh. "I forget I'm someone's girlfriend sometimes."

"That's fair." Zane replied. "After all you have been through."

"What do you think of the whole therapy idea?" Rikki asked him.

"I agree with everyone else." Zane said. "But I think you should go in your own time."

"Really?" Rikki asked.

"Yeah," Zane replied. "What would an hour long session look like with you not wanting to open up anyway? Just you starting at the wall? It wouldn't be a good use of anyone's time."

"It's not entirely that I don't want to go." Rikki said. "It's just that... well what am I supposed to tell them? I was kidnapped by a marine biologist because I'm a mermaid?"

"Not everyone wants to hurt you, Rikki." Zane told her. "There are people who care about you and wouldn't want to harm you."

"Yeah, I know." Rikki said. She felt tears coming to her eyes. She was so tired of crying. She never used to cry.

"It doesn't seem like you have to decide today," Zane started. "But you really should think about it at least."

"Okay," Rikki replied. "I will."

"Good." Zane said, standing from his chair and leaning down to give her a kiss. He was a bit surprised when she deepened it and placed a hand on his cheek. He felt his heart soar and he knew it would be a good day.

"I'll catch you later." Zane told her as he moved out of the room. He wished he could ditch school and stay with her but he had done that enough lately. Rikki would be okay. She had to be.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Rikki had been released from the hospital as scheduled. She returned to school the next week and anyone that wasn't in their close circle would have figured she was back to normal, aside from the crutches she had to use.

However, her close friends knew she was far from her normal self. She could stand to be alone for a short amount of time and didn't have an issue going being in gatherings. Still, they found she was triggered by certain things. She and the girls had been walking along the beach one day when they walked past a fisherman who had just caught a large tuna. The fish was flopping on the line and Rikki saw him put the fish in a cooler and give her a small smile. She held it together for a few moments but collapsed for a brief moment later down the beach. Emma and Cleo agreed to keep this incident a secret as long as it didn't happen again. That was until they found out she was still spending nights with Zane, changing between sleeping over and his place and him sleeping over at hers.

They told Zane in the juice cafe a few days later. He had been upset and was planning on talking to her about it tonight, before her dad got home. She still didn't want to go to therapy even though everyone around her was pushing for it. Zane had thought she should take her time going to therapy but she only seemed to be getting worse and worse.

Zane arrived at his house, hoping to find it empty as it usually was. It was only 5:00, his dad wouldn't be home yet. He dropped his bag off on a coat hanger by the stairs and went up to his room. He waited for a few hours and hoped that would be enough for his dad to think he was upstairs by himself. He maneuvered out of his window and took the fire escape down to the ground level as he took off to Rikki's house.

He carefully moved around the small trailer as to not get Terry's attention. He had asked Rikki how her dad might react if he found out Zane had been spending the nights and she said she wasn't sure. They didn't want to risk anything though, if they did get caught and he reacted poorly.

He reached her bedroom and was surprised to see her sitting in her bed, staring at her television. It was only 7:00, did she get ready for bed this early? He disregarded that thought and gently tapped on the window. She got up and opened it for him so he could crawl inside.

"You're early." She told him.

"I can leave if you want." Zane joked, he thought rather obviously.

"No," Rikki replied seriously, as if he had said he was leaving at 11 instead of 7. "No, stay."

"Okay." Zane told her. "I'll stay."

Rikki curled up into her bed and Zane joined her after he moved his bag to the corner of the room and removed his shoes. She leaned into him as she often did. They were thankful they both had bigger beds than the hospital one. It was much easier for them to sleep in beds meant for more than one person.

"So do you want to talk about what happened to you today with the fisherman?" Zane asked. He figured it was better to talk about this sooner rather than later.

Rikki sighed, heavily. "They told you?" She asked.

"Well, you didn't tell them I was still spending the nights with you so they felt it was important I know." Zane told her. "I worry about you."

"I don't want you to." Rikki told him.

"I know, but I can't help it." Zane said. "Don't tell me you wouldn't feel the same way if our roles were reversed."

"I guess you have a point." Rikki said after a moment. "I couldn't even tell you what happened. He caught a fish like any other fisherman."

"Like Denman caught you?" Zane asked.

"Zane," he felt her start to shake against him. "I don't want to talk about that woman."

"You'll have to talk about it eventually." Zane told her.

"I don't want to do it right now." Rikki said. "In fact, I'm a bit tired why don't we go to sleep?"

"Have you given therapy any more thought?" He asked.

"Zane-" she started.

"I know you don't want to go." Zane cut her off. "But I think it would be beneficial for you."

"What happened to not going until I opened up?" Rikki asked.

"That would be fine under normal circumstances." Zane said. "But this isn't normal. It's not normal for you to start shaking every time someone mentions Denman. You're scaring the hell out of me, Rikki."

"I'm going to sleep." She said, flopping over so she was facing away from him. Whether or not she went to sleep at that time, Zane didn't know but he found himself drifting off a few hours later.

He was awoken again by the shaking of the bed. It was still dark outside so something else had to have woken him up. It didn't take him long as the source of the shaking started moaning calls of "help" and "no".

"Rikki?" Zane said, softly as he shook her shoulder. She usually woke up after a few moments of him shaking her. She'd had a few more nightmares since the one in the hospital. This one was different. Rikki moved further away from Zane when she usually melted into him before she woke up. Her protests continued and she started to get louder and louder.

"Rikki!" Zane tried again, trying his best to remain quiet so Terry wouldn't catch him but still trying to talk loud enough Rikki could hear him over her protests. "Rikki, please. It's just a nightmare."

Her subtle moans and groans were now clearly audible and only getting louder. Unless her dad was the type to sleep through the worst thunderstorm, he'd likely hear her soon. However, that wasn't Zane's main concern at the moment. He'd always been able to wake Rikki up from her nightmares but now he felt hopeless.

She let out a blood curdling scream and her dad had bursted into her room a few moments later. Zane was ready to make up some excuse or at least make sure Terry knew it wasn't him that was causing Rikki this pain. Terry ignored Zane as if he wasn't even there and bent down beside his daughter.

"It's a nightmare." Zane told the man. He had no idea if Terry could tell. Rikki let out another scream as the two men tried to wake her up. She took a huge breath in before her eyes snapped open. Her nightmare had been awful. For the first time in several days she wished she was alone. She couldn't help the tears that suddenly flew and the sobs that escaped her mouth as soon as she took in her surroundings. It was embarrassing.

Terry collected her in his arms as Zane settled beside her, taking in what had just happened. She was not okay, not in the slightest. He hated seeing her like this with every fiber in his being. He hated more she didn't want to do anything to help herself.

Rikki's crying settled down after a moment and Terry released his hold on his daughter. She wiped the last of her tears on the back of her hand as she looked between the two men.

"Sorry." She muttered as she collected herself.

"It's nothing to be sorry for." Zane told her.

"Rikki, do you mind if I have a word with Zane in the living room?" Terry asked her. Uh oh. What did Terry want to talk to him about?

"Um... no." Rikki replied. "No, that's all right."

"We won't be long, sweetheart." Terry said as he left the room and Zane got out of the bed, closing her bedroom door behind him.

"Look, Mr. Chadwick-" Zane started before the older man cut him off.

"If you're going to try to explain why you've been spending every night with Rikki since the incident, forget it." Terry told him. "I've known for a while now."

"You-you have?" Zane asked.

"Yeah," Terry said. "You think your friends were the first ones to see you cuddled up in the hospital bed after the first night? And the trailer is pretty small, I heard you come in the first night she was back and heard her leave the next night. I assume to your place?"

"So you're okay with it?" Zane asked.

"As long as all that's happening between the two of you is sleeping, sure." Terry replied. "You can start using the front door if you'd like."

"Thanks." Zane said.

"I did want to talk to you about Rikki some more." Terry started. "I just wonder if she's told you anything about the... experience."

"No," Zane said. "No, I don't think she's ready yet."

"Yeah, well I'm not too sure about you but I don't really care if she's ready now or not." Terry said. "Has she been having nightmares?"

"Yes," Zane said. "Never like that though."

"Hm." Terry said. "Anything else I should know about my daughter?"

Zane questioned if he should let Terry know about the incident with the fisherman. It probably wouldn't make any sense to Terry. Zane was pretty sure Terry had no clue about his daughter's mermaid identity and Zane didn't want to be the one to tell him.

"No," Zane replied. "Nothing as far as I know."

"All right," Terry said after a moment. "I'm off to bed. You can tell Rikki if you'd like that I'm calling the therapist her doctor recommended tomorrow. If she wants to stare at the wall all session that's fine but I'm not letting this get any worse."

Zane didn't miss the man's voice breaking at the end of his sentence. Zane was hurting himself from all that had happened to Rikki, but he couldn't imagine how her father felt.

"Get some sleep, son." Terry said as he walked off to his own bedroom.

Zane took a moment before he re-entered Rikki's room. She was still sitting on her bed with her arms crossed.

"Hi," Zane said as he entered.

"Dad's right." Rikki said. "It's a small trailer."

"So you heard everything?" Zane asked.

Rikki gave him a nod as he saw more tears falling down her face. He immediately moved to take his spot on the bed beside her.

"I'm so tired of crying." She said as she wiped her tears away. "I'm tired of not feeling like myself."

"I know," Zane said. "And I'm sorry you've had to deal with this. But I think- we all think therapy would help."

"I'm beginning to think you're right." Rikki sighed. "I'm sorry I got upset with you earlier."

"That's okay." Zane said.

"I'll go." Rikki told him. "And I'll open up the best I can."

"Good." Zane replied as he took her in his arms. "So do you want to sleep or talk?"

"I think I'll take the sleep option." Rikki yawned. Zane chuckled before falling asleep with her in his arms.

* * *

Zane woke up early and returned to his home. He didn't want his dad to be too suspicious of him or come up to find his room empty. He and Rikki had been sleeping together for a few weeks now, they were pros at timing. Zane took a quick shower before heading downstairs to get some breakfast and get ready for school. His dad usually wouldn't say anything to him but Zane heard his name as soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He hoped he hadn't been caught last night.

"What is it?" Zane asked as he arrived, leaning against the sectional.

"I wanted to talk to you about your schooling." Harrison started. Zane didn't expect this. What was wrong with his schooling? He wasn't getting straight A's but he wasn't failing any of his classes either. His father never seemed upset if this was the case. Was he suddenly expecting Zane to be the brightest kid in school?

"What about my schooling?" Zane asked.

"I've been thinking about the benefits of public versus private schools." Harrison said. "After weighing the options I think you are better off in a private school. You'll finish the term here and then we'll move you to Briton Academy."

"No." Zane scoffed. He knew he wasn't being asked and likely didn't have much of a say in this but he had to make sure his father knew where he stood. A year ago, he might not have fought so hard but now he had Rikki in addition to his good friends. She needed him.

"I wasn't really asking, Zane." His father told him. "We've already sent an application over."

"Well, withdraw it." Zane said. "I'm not switching schools."

"Again, I wasn't asking." Harrison told him.

"Why do I have to switch schools?" Zane asked. "I'm doing well in all my classes and I've made a lot of good friends at school."

"It's not like we're moving, Zane." Harrison said. "You can still hang out with your friends after school."

"So this is about my friends then?" Zane asked, noticing his dad hadn't mentioned anything about his grades. "This is about Rikki."

"Zane, I worry about you." Harrison told him. "She's going to be in a lot of danger more than just this one time. I don't want you to get involved."

"I don't care." Zane replied.

"Well maybe one day when you'll have children of your own, you will." Harrison told him. "I can't stand the thought of losing you. I mean after your mum... after she left, you're all I have left."

"Well, throwing me in private school isn't going to help anything." Zane said, crossing his arms.

"You'll meet new friends." Harrison said. "I'm sure there will be some great people there."

"I already have great people here!" Zane yelled. "I have Rikki and Lewis and Emma and Cleo. They're all good people."

Harrison took a deep breath. Zane knew he did this when he was trying to calm himself down. He wished he wouldn't. He wished Harrison would meet his level of frustration.

"We'll talk about this after school." Harrison said. "You'd better be off or else you'll be late."

* * *

Zane couldn't help but think about the private school conversation he had with his dad that morning. He tried to be his normal self but he sensed he wasn't doing a good job. The whole idea irritated him and he swore he could feel his blood boiling all day. He didn't have a say in the matter. He was happier than he had ever been at this school. He wasn't recklessly crashing his water toys anymore. He felt like he had changed so much since dating Rikki, changed for the better. He did his homework and his chores, he was much more responsible than he had been before. Why would his dad want that to change?

Zane remembered what his dad had said about Rikki, how she was dangerous. Rikki wasn't the one who was dangerous, it was marine biologists like Denman and businessmen like his father. If Zane needed to get away from danger, he needed to get away from his dad. Zane had thought about running away from home before but not since he was a little boy. Maybe that wasn't such a bad idea. Maybe he should just take Rikki and run off. The thought didn't intimidate him as much as he thought it would. He'd love to have a life with her. Still, tearing her away from the girls seemed like tearing away two pieces of her heart. Rikki had a good life here, it wasn't a good enough excuse to pull her away from it just because he didn't.

Rikki, Cleo, Emma and Lewis had invited Zane to join them on the beach after school. He said he needed to be alone for a bit. He was glad Rikki would be with someone. He'd still let her in his room when she came tonight but he didn't know how open he would be at any point today. He thought he'd just grab a juice and head home. Maybe he could come up with a way to convince his dad to let him stay in school before he would need to tell her or their friends.

Zane wasn't paying much attention when he walked into the JuiceNet. He was looking at a corner wall and didn't see the girl carrying an orange juice out of the cafe. She must not have been paying attention either as they collided and the juice spilled all over her.

"I'm sorry." Zane said as he helped the girl stand up.

"No, it's fine." The girl replied. "I should have been paying attention."

The girl was pretty, Zane noted. She had short, red hair and blue eyes, nearly as bright as Rikki's. The JuiceNet was the hang out for almost everyone their age, yet Zane couldn't remember ever seeing her before.

"Are you new here?" Zane asked her.

"Yeah," she replied with a bright smile. "My family's moving out here at the beginning of next term. I'll be at Briton."

 _Maybe I'll see her around more than once._ Zane thought.

"I'm Sophie." She said as she extended her hand.

"Zane." He replied, shaking it.

"Well, I'll catch you later, Zane." Sophie said as she moved around him. "I need to go wash this off."

Sophie smiled at him, biting her bottom lip. It made him feel weird. It wasn't the first time a girl had smiled at him like that. Miriam had, Rikki had. Did he accidentally flirt with her? He'd have to clear things up if he ever saw her again.

Zane turned around to make his way to the juice bar. He couldn't miss Miriam sitting at the table nearest the bar.

"You just can't keep them away, can you?" Miriam said.

"That wasn't anything." Zane shot back. "I'm with Rikki and that's that."

"Sure." Miriam replied, dropping her empty glass off at the bar. "Once a cheat, always a cheat."

* * *

**AN: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! As I'm sure you can tell, I'll be taking this story in a bit of a different direction now with the introduction of Sophie. Will Zane kiss her just like he did in season 3? Will he do everything he can to avoid her? We'll see!**

**Thank you guys again for all the love and support on this story!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

It had been a few weeks since Rikki's nightmare and things were going well. She went to a few therapy sessions and they seemed to be helping already. In addition, Harrison had let his son know that he was cutting funding from Dr. Denman so she would be forced to leave town soon. Rikki had cried happy tears when Zane had told her the good news.

Zane also hadn't brought up that he might be attending a private school next year. He had been trying to fight it, hoping his father would see his side but it seemed the more his dad learned about Briton, the more he wanted Zane to go. Although Rikki was doing better, he knew she was still a ticking time bomb. He figured it would be best to wait until he absolutely had to let her know.

Zane also couldn't shake what had happened in the cafe with Sophie and Miriam. He knew he was devoted to Rikki, his feelings for her couldn't compare to what his feelings were for Miriam. Still, he had been thinking about their past relationship. No, he and Miriam had never established themselves as boyfriend and girlfriend like he and Rikki had but he could see how Miriam might have thought they were in a relationship. It wasn't that delusional of a thought. But he and Rikki knew they were together, they knew they were only seeing each other. He wouldn't leave her or see anyone else.

He also felt guilty for thinking Sophie was pretty. She was, he found he couldn't deny it. Rikki was pretty too. Rikki was beautiful. It was one of the reasons he was attracted to her. Would he leave Rikki for Sophie like he had done Miriam? Just because he thought another girl was pretty? Would he do that for the rest of his life? A rational side of Zane told him he wouldn't but another part of him wasn't so sure.

Zane and Rikki didn't go on many dates. That was understandable, she had a lot going on. They saw each other every night anyway. Surprisingly enough, she had been the one to push for them to hang out more, go to the mall, walk on the beach like they used to do. Zane couldn't have agreed more. He had just arrived at the JuiceNet when he saw her, writing in her journal. Rikki had trouble opening up to her therapist so she had suggested keeping a journal and writing down her thoughts and experiences. It was a plain, black, leather bound journal that seemed to fit her aesthetic perfectly.

"Flying through the journal, huh?" Zane said as he approached her. She couldn't have had more than a few pages left.

Rikki shrugged as she closed the book. "Yeah, I guess I have a lot on my mind. I think I'll get a red one next."

"How original of you." Zane said, pulling her up from her seat to give her a kiss. "You ready to head out to the beach?"

Rikki blushed at him. They had been together and been through a lot in the past few months. He wondered why she was so flushed, but didn't question it as the pair walked off toward the beach. Unfortunately, Rikki didn't even think to grab her journal.

* * *

Miriam arrived at the cafe shortly after Rikki and Zane had headed off to the beach. She could still see the back of their heads in the distance. It wasn't fair, what did Rikki have that she didn't? Zane had never so much as given Miriam and explanation as to why they weren't good together. Miriam knew her chances with Zane were long gone. The likelihood of him dating her again was as good a chance as mermaids existing. Still, she knew Zane wasn't happy with Rikki, he couldn't be. Miriam's mum had heard Harrison didn't like the girl. Zane's family had lost enough already, they didn't deserve to lose anymore at the hands of the curly haired freak.

Thankfully, Miriam had a plan for this and that plan got much easier when she spotted a black, leather bound journal on a nearby table. It looked to be the same one she had seen Rikki scribbling in a few days earlier. What perfect timing.

Miriam walked into the JuiceNet, not caring to order a juice and instead taking the black diary over to the girl at a nearby table.

"This plan just got a whole lot easier." Miriam told the girl as she tossed the journal onto the table.

"What's this?" The girl asked, flipping through the pages.

"That Rikki girl's diary." Miriam replied. "There's got to be some stuff in there we can use to get Zane to date you."

"This could be a manual." The girl said. "There's stuff in here about a kidnapping-"

"No, scratch that." Miriam cut her off. "He'll know that's about her."

"That's not all." The girl said. "Daddy and Mummy issues, being bullied, moving around a lot and get this, some stuff about being a mermaid."

"Let me see that." Miriam said as she took the journal. It seemed every other sentence mentioned Rikki's mermaid life. Miriam flashed back to the day she gave Zane the locket. She had seen what was inside of it but she didn't think Rikki had any more than a connection to the mermaids Zane was hunting. How would it be possible for her to be a mermaid? Miriam had wondered why Zane had been so quick to forgive Rikki but if she was just hiding her mermaid identity from him, in fear the selfish, money-hungry bad boy he had been when they met would expose her, Miriam could see how Zane would be quick to forgive her.

"Miriam?" The girl at the table was snapping her fingers in Miriam's face. Miriam must of zoned out thinking about this new information.

"Sorry, Soph." Miriam said to the red head. "Just take the diary and read it over. I'm sure we'll get a chance to use it sometime soon."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"So, what's new? I haven't seen you in ages." Zane asked her, sarcastically, as he intertwined their fingers.

"Not too much." Rikki replied. "At least not much you don't know. What about you? We never talk about you."

"I don't mind." Zane said, knowing Rikki was the one who needed to talk and open up right now.

"I know." Rikki said. "But I don't know what's going on with you."

Zane took a sigh wondering if now was the time to tell her about Briton. "Same old, same old." He settled.

"Yeah?" Rikki said, looking up at him. "Well, what do you do when I'm not around?"

"Oh, you know just hanging out with my other girlfriend." Zane joked. "She's getting pretty needy, it's hard to balance you two."

"Hm." Rikki nodded. "Sounds like you'll have to let one of us go soon."

Zane stopped walking and pulled Rikki into his arms. "Yeah, good thing the choice is an easy one."

He gave her a quick kiss and was thankful he could joke around with her again. She gave him a bright smile and he got lost in her blue eyes. Sophie had blue eyes. Suddenly, Zane felt a pit in his stomach at the joke he had made. He hoped Rikki would take their conversation in another direction.

Rikki started walking along the beach again, giving him a soft tug. "No, really what do you do when I'm not around?"

"I don't know." Zane sighed. "I'll take my bike out to the motor cross tracks at the edge of town sometimes. I'll work on the Zodiac and take it out for spins every now and again."

Rikki nodded. "Didn't you always want to take me out on the Zodiac?"

"Yeah, to look for a mermaid." Zane scoffed. "Good thing I already found one."

"You found three, actually." Rikki said.

"Yeah," Zane shrugged. "Don't tell the others but I think you're the best one."

"Really?" Rikki asked in surprise. She mumbled something he missed over the crashing of the waves.

"What was that?" Zane asked.

"Why don't we go out on the Zodiac?" Rikki asked. He had a feeling that wasn't what she was mumbling but he decided to drop it for now.

"All right." Zane said. "Do you want to meet at Mako or something?"

"Why don't you take me?" She asked.

"You want to come on the Zodiac?" Zane asked. "Why?"

"I just thought I'd change things up a bit." Rikki said. "I haven't been on a boat in a while. Unless you count... you know..."

Rikki still had difficulties talking about her kidnapping but Zane supposed that was to be expected. At least she wasn't borderline a panic attack anytime it was brought up in conversation anymore.

"All right." Zane replied. "If you really want to go, I suppose we can."

"Great." Rikki said as they changed course of direction to head for the pier.

Zane hopped in the Zodiac as soon as they arrived. He started the engine and checked to make sure they had enough petrol to make it out to Mako and back. He didn't know if she wanted to go there or not but he doubted she'd want to go any further. He was ready to take off when he realized she wasn't on the boat, she was still standing on the pier looking into the water as if a Great White Shark was staring back at her.

"What's wrong?" Zane asked, standing up from the driver's seat.

"Nothing." Rikki replied, masking whatever emotion she had displayed with a smile. Her signature move. "I'm fine, I promise."

Zane offered her his hand to help her into the Zodiac. She pointedly ignored him as she took a seat behind him.

"Where do you want to go?" He asked as he slowly made his way out of the pier.

"Wherever." Rikki responded.

"Mako?" Zane tried again.

"Not really," Rikki said to his surprise. "Just out."

"All right." Zane said as he turned the boat on full speed, pulling out of the harbor.

Rikki did her best to remain calm on the Zodiac. She was pushing herself out of her comfort zone, like her therapist had encouraged her to do. This would help her return to her normal life and she knew she had to have Zane help her. It couldn't be one of the girls or Lewis. They wouldn't understand. Zane had been there for her through everything. She doubted he would fully understand what she was going through but he'd at least be as understanding as he had been from the beginning.

She saw Zane whip his head from left to right. What was he doing? Was he checking for other drivers? It had been a while since Rikki had driven a boat but she knew that wasn't how you were supposed to do it. Maybe he was checking to see if they were alone? Before she could think any further, Zane turned around to give her a mischievous smirk and made a hard right turn, cause water fly up and soak them both.

Rikki exclaimed as the water covered her body. She'd surely turn into a mermaid in a few seconds. This wasn't like the few drops she had been able to evaporate quickly on the boat ride thus far. Panic started to set in. This was not how she had imagined this going.

Zane turned around to face her, a smile still on his face until he saw hers. He must have thought it would be a funny prank. He must not have taken into account her feelings. Then again, she didn't tell him what her feelings were so how could he have known?

"Hey, what's wrong?" Zane asked, moving away from the driver's seat. Rikki felt the familiar feeling of her body turning into water before spitting her back out in her mermaid form.

"This wasn't how I was expecting this to go." She said was a sigh as she tried to re-adjust herself. Her tail was much longer than her legs.

"Expecting what to go?" Zane asked, confusion evident on his face.

"This." Rikki gestured to her mermaid form, expecting him to read her mind.

"Never mind." She continued with a sigh. Maybe this was too far out of her comfort zone. "Can you just take me back to land?"

"Sure." Zane nodded. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." She said as he took the driver's seat back, confusion still written all over his face.

Zane turned the Zodiac around and they headed back to the main land. Rikki knew she would have to start drying herself off now if she wanted to be in her human form when they got back on land. Still, something held her back. Something inside her was telling her not to give up. She could do this. She could go outside of her comfort zone. She could be a mermaid again.

"Wait." Rikki shouted so Zane would hear her. He turned his head around briefly and brought the boat to a slow stop.

"What is it?" He asked once the Zodiac had stopped.

"I'm sorry." Rikki said to him.

Zane was confused. "Sorry? For what?"

"For expecting you to read my mind." Rikki said as she started drying herself off. The water in the boat started to steam up around her. She hoped she wasn't drawing too much attention. They didn't need someone to see the steam in the air and come riding over thinking there was a fire.

"That is a pretty large task to ask." Zane laughed. "What's on your mind?"

Rikki felt herself turn back into her human form. She stopped squeezing her hand and sat up from the slump her mermaid form had forced her to be in.

"It's just..." she started. "I haven't been out in the ocean since... well since Denman."

"Really?" Zane asked. She supposed that must be surprising to him. Cleo and Emma had jumped in the water the second Rikki had told them Denman was leaving. She just couldn't find it in herself to go out in the ocean again, even though the threat she was scared of was now just a bad memory.

"Yeah." She sighed. "I... I don't know, I know it's silly. We went months without anyone finding us, I know the odds of me being plucked out of the ocean again are next to none but...

"The girls keep asking me to come out for swims." Rikki continued. "I don't know how many more excuses I can give them."

"You could just tell them how you feel." Zane said, reaching a hand out to stroke her arm. "I'm sure they'd understand."

"That's the thing." Rikki replied. "I want to go on swims with them. I don't think I'm pushing myself too far. But I don't think I'm just going to be able to run into the ocean like it's nothing. Not right away at least. I'm not sure if they'd get that. And Lewis, well he means well but he's a bit pushy. I guess I was just wondering if you could help me with this. With being comfortable being a mermaid again."

"Of course, I will." Zane said after a moment. "Take your time."

Rikki nodded. "Okay."

She stood up from the seat she had been rooted to since they left the docks. She looked at the water over the edge of the boat. It looked comforting and inviting, like an old friend but it also felt like it could betray her like an old friend had...

Rikki couldn't go that far in her head. This was not the time to be digging up old, bad memories. She shut her brain off and dove into the water. She felt like her tail had formed almost instantly, although she was sure it took the normal 10 seconds. She saw the bottom of Zane's Zodiac and the motor fan. She felt a twinge in her shoulder and knew she would have to break the surface before she thought any further. She didn't realize how much the motor had startled her until she was on the surface again and she found she had a hard time finding her breath.

Zane was on the boat a few meters away. He must have seen the terrified look on her face as he beckoned her to come to the Zodiac and told her she'd be okay. Rikki was glad he mentioned she would be okay because her brain was playing flashes of the night she was taken into Dr. Denman's boat. A part of her wanted to swim away but another part of her reminded herself Zane was on this boat, not Dr. Denman. Zane wouldn't hurt her.

Rikki swam over to the Zodiac as she felt herself catching her breath again.

"Are you all right?" Zane asked as he reached down to touch her cheek.

"I'm all right." Rikki reassured him. She reckoned her reaction when she broke the surface might have him questioning that but she was truly okay now.

"So what now?" Zane asked her. She supposed she was the only person on the planet who could truly understand getting used to being a fish again. Emma and Cleo knew what it felt like to be a mermaid but they never had to re-adjust to that life.

"I don't know." Rikki said. "I might just swim around a bit. Try to get used to the feeling again."

"What should I do?" Zane asked.

"Just- just stay here." Rikki said as she let go of the side of the boat. "I won't go far, I promise."

Rikki dove back under the water, making sure to head to the front of the boat so she wouldn't see the motor again. The ocean felt the same as it always had. She supposed it hadn't changed since the last time she swam in it. It was crazy to think the last time she swam in the ocean was the night Zane first saw her as a mermaid. It felt like he had known her secret for an eternity now.

Rikki dove even further down to the corals she remembered but hadn't seen in so long. There were so many beautiful fish floating around her. The dolphins and the turtles stole the show as they always had. Even the few Mako sharks she could see were still beautiful, gliding in the water like a blade on ice.

Rikki felt silly for being so afraid of the water. She hadn't felt this at peace in a long time. She had no idea how long she was exploring the underwater wilderness before she thought of Zane on the surface above. She made her way up to see him more than a few meters away. She dove back under again to make her way to the side of the Zodiac. She didn't feel as terrified seeing his still motor under the water.

"How was it?" He asked with a smile on his face.

She could tell she was smiling wide and she hoped that made him smile. "Incredible. It's like I never left."

"I'm glad." Zane told her.

"Do you want to go to Mako?" Rikki asked him.

"Sure." Zane replied. "I assume you have your own way of getting there?"

"You would be correct." Rikki said as she dove back under the water. She flipped her tail a few times before she felt herself speed off, taking the familiar path to Mako.

Rikki arrived in the moon pool to find it empty. She knew she was faster than Zane's Zodiac and Zane did have to take the tunnels in to get to the moon pool. Zane had been the absolute perfect boyfriend during all of this. If you would have told her all the things he had done for her, all the sacrifices he had made even a few weeks ago, Rikki wouldn't have believed you. She couldn't imagine how the girl who stole his Zodiac would feel. She couldn't have healed from all of this as much as she had, as quickly as she had, if it wasn't for him.

Rikki pushed herself out of the moon pool and began to dry herself off. She stood as soon as her legs reappeared and she heard his footsteps coming in from the tunnels outside the volcano.

"Hey," Zane started. He looked surprised to see her in her human form. "What's-"

Zane was cut off as Rikki pressed her lips against his. This kiss was much deeper, much more passionate than anything they had shared before. He melted into it, just as she did. He had no idea where this came from but he certainly wasn't complaining. If he had it his way, this kiss would never end.

Rikki hesitantly backed away from the kiss. Zane looked into her eyes to see they were swimming with tears. The tears didn't feel like the tears she shed during her nightmare about Denman or the tears she shed when he told her Denman was leaving. He couldn't put his finger on the emotion she had to be feeling but something about it made him feel weightless.

"I love you." She said, in barely a whisper. He wouldn't have heard it if they didn't have their arms around each other.

Zane felt himself laugh and tears form in his eyes too. The same tears as the ones in Rikki's eyes. That's what that feeling was; love.

"I love you, too." He told her with the widest smile he swore he ever wore. Rikki seemed to match it. He needed her back, as close as she could possibly be now. Their lips returned together as they resumed their passionate kiss.

The pair didn't leave the moon pool until much later that night.

* * *

**AN: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! For those of you asking, I promise Miriam will be playing a much bigger role in this story than I have had her playing so far. At the start of the story, I really wanted to keep it in line with the events that ended up happening in the show. The episode right after In Too Deep starts all the Denman drama but now I suppose we're in the hiatus between season 1 and season 2 so I can do whatever I want now haha. I also I am making Rikki and Zane much more serious than the show's writers did so it wouldn't line up with the events of season 2 anyway. Anyway, get ready to see more of Miriam and more of another character that is trying to steal Zane's heart.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Since the night she dove back into the water off of Zane's Zodiac, Rikki felt odd being out of the ocean. She never questioned her home was on the land before but now she found herself wondering if she could just make the sea her home and visit the land on occasion.

Not to say her life on the land wasn't bad. In fact, if it wasn't for the Denman incident, Rikki would say her life was as perfect as it had ever been. She had the best friends she had ever had and an amazing, loving boyfriend. Both of her worlds were incredible. What more could a girl ask for?

She would still go on swims with the two girls but she would include Zane as much as possible. He couldn't very well swim alongside her from the pier or the docks to the middle of the ocean but he would take his Zodiac and follow her wherever she went. He dove with her a few times but he'd usually stay on his boat and work on what she assumed was homework. It was what he had opted to do on their latest trip out to sea.

"Are you sure you don't want to come in?" Rikki asked him as she swam up to the Zodiac. "The water feels great today."

Zane shook his head. "I'm all right. I should be working on this anyway."

"What is it?" Rikki asked as she pulled her upper body above the surface, accidentally splashing some water on the paper.

"Great, thanks a lot Rikki." Zane shot back to her. He was clearly pissed.

Rikki lowered herself back into the sea. "What's wrong? It was just a little bit of water. Does it really matter?"

Zane sighed. It wasn't just any homework assignment, it was his final papers for Briton. His dad would be pissed if Zane came home with wrinkled papers. Zane usually wouldn't care what his dad thought but Harrison had been wrecking havoc toward his son whenever he tried to fight back about Briton. Zane was tired of dealing with it.

Even though term started in just a few weeks, Zane had yet to tell Rikki and the others that he would be transferring schools. He hoped Rikki wouldn't be too upset but didn't know if she would get that lucky. He was fighting Briton as much as he could but it appeared he was fighting a losing battle.

"It's not homework." Zane told her.

"Okay, so why is it so important?" Rikki asked. "You're hiding something from me."

"Yeah, not too fun being on the other side is it?" Zane joked.

"Seriously, what is it?" Rikki asked him with a smile.

"It's my dad." Zane started. "He's... well, he's making me transfer schools."

"What?" Rikki asked, she smile disappearing from her face.

"Yeah, well he wants me to go to Briton Academy." Zane said. "I'll still be in town and we can still hang out at the JuiceNet or the beach or wherever after school."

"How long have you known?" Rikki asked, her demeanor had completely changed from the happy girl she was a few minutes ago.

"Rikki, why does that matter?"

"How long have you known?" Rikki repeated.

Zane sighed again. He wouldn't be so lucky to get out of this without upsetting her. "A while, I'm not sure. I was trying to get out of it before I told you. I didn't want you to worry if I was able to convince my dad to let me stay here."

"That's not the point, Zane." Rikki shot back.

"What is the point then?" Zane yelled back at her.

Rikki opened her mouth but quickly closed it. She had been so good about opening up to him and now it felt like she was closing up again. What did this have to do with him moving schools?

"Nothing." Rikki replied as she started backing away from the Zodiac. "Forget about it."

Zane wanted to fight her back and figure out what was going on. Why was she acting so weird all of a sudden? She didn't give him the time though as she dove under water and swam away.

* * *

Zane briefly thought about going after Rikki but he figured they could talk about this tonight. He was glad he was going over to her place and not the other way around. She might not show if it was her night to come over. He hoped she would let him in. He figured it might be easier to come through the window. It would be awkward if he had to leave in front of her father.

Zane decided to go the JuiceNet and think about the next steps he'd have to take with Rikki. He grabbed a juice and sat down at a booth in the corner. He wanted to make it clear that he wanted to be left alone. He supposed he didn't make it clear enough as someone approached the table.

"Is this seat taken?" The girl with the short, red hair asked.

"Sophie!" Zane exclaimed.

"Yes," she replied with a confused look on her face, as if to wonder why she got that reaction. "It's Zane right? Do you mind if I join you?"

"I'd- I'd actually prefer to be alone if you don't mind." Zane told her, giving her a small smile, trying to to come off too harsh.

"It looks like you're thinking about something," Sophie said as she ignored him and took the seat across from him. "I could help."

Zane initially thought to tell her off. How dare she not listen to him? Then, he thought this might be a good opportunity to tell Sophie about Rikki. He was almost certainly attending Briton next term so he might run into her. The sooner Zane could tell her about Rikki, the better.

"I just had an argument with my girlfriend is all." Zane told the girl across from him. "She was upset I didn't tell her I was going to Briton and took off."

"I could understand that." Sophie replied. "I have arguments with my boyfriend every now and again and I grew up moving schools often so I've had my fair share of friends get upset with me for it."

Zane was relieved to hear Sophie had a boyfriend. Maybe his misread the situation the last time he saw her. She seemed nice too. Maybe she'd be his first friend at Briton.

"You've moved schools a lot?" Zane asked.

"Yeah," Sophie nodded. "I usually look forward to it. I don't really fit in, if you know what I mean. To be honest, I was bullied a lot at my other schools but I really liked the school I had just moved from. I guess I'm just nervous Briton will be like my old schools."

"Well, I suppose we could hang out even if you don't fit in there." Zane told her.

"Really?" Sophie asked.

"Sure, why not?" Zane said as he leaned back in his booth and placed his hand on the table. He'd find this to be a mistake as Sophie seemed very excited about their new friendship, grabbed his hands in hers.

"That is so sweet of you, Zane." She told him. "I'd love to be your friend."

Zane gave her a small, slightly forced, smile. He could feel someone's eyes on him, someone that wasn't Sophie. He looked toward the center of the cafe to see Cleo and Emma staring at him with disapproving looks on their faces.

Zane jumped out of the booth, ignoring Sophie. He needed to clear this up with the two girls before they told Rikki what they saw. They had the wrong impression, nothing was going on with him and Sophie.

As Zane walked toward Emma and Cleo, they walked out of the cafe. He chased after them, shouting for them to return.

"Hey," Zane finally said as he jumped in front of them on the patio. "Can we just talk about what you saw?"

"What's there to talk about?" Emma asked. "It looked pretty obvious to me."

"It's not what it looked like." Zane told them. "Sophie's just a friend."

"Looked a little more than friendly to me." Cleo said. "Like you hold hands at a corner booth with your friends?"

"She jumped on me, I swear." Zane pleaded.

"You know, we met up with Rikki in the moon pool a little while ago." Emma said. Zane's heart dropped. How much of an ass did he look like to the two? "She told us about your new school. She was upset you'd be leaving and this is how you repay her?"

"Do you have any idea how much she cares for you?" Cleo asked.

"You're right." Zane said. "I screwed up, but please, let me talk to Rikki about this. I want to make it better and I swear Sophie is just a friend."

"Why should we believe that?" Emma asked.

Zane felt like a fish out of water. He knew he cared about Rikki more than most anything. He knew he wouldn't let Sophie get in the way of what they had. Rikki was one of the greatest things that had ever happened to him and he wasn't going to let that go. He could think of too many reasons Cleo and Emma should believe him but it was like they were all on a race from him brain to get to his mouth.

Emma scoffed at Zane and she and Cleo maneuvered around him. They would tell Rikki about their view of him and Sophie as soon as they left. He needed to stop them now.

"Because I love Rikki." Zane said, probably louder than what he intended but it caught the two girls attention. They had known him for a while, they should know when he was being serious and when he was joking. They both had almost confused looks on their faces.

"You... what?" Cleo asked.

Zane took a few steps forward so he was standing directly in front of them. "You heard me. I love her, all right? I wouldn't do anything to hurt her, especially not anything that stupid. I swear to you on my life, there's nothing going on with me and Sophie."

Emma and Cleo exchanged looks. It seemed like Cleo was sold on Zane's declaration but Emma wasn't quite there yet. Eventually the latter rolled her eyes and uncrossed her arms.

"Fine." Emma said. "We'll believe you but if we catch you two again, we'll tell Rikki."

"Fine." Zane replied. "No worries, it won't happen again."

"Good." Emma said, walking away from the cafe.

"See you around." Cleo told him as she followed Emma.

Zane waved at her hoping they would keep their promise.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Zane left the cafe and made his way to Rikki's trailer. He didn't need to have any other questionable encounters with Sophie and he needed to talk to Rikki. He could understand why Rikki might be upset since he didn't tell her about Briton but he hoped she could see his point of view. It's not like he wasn't going to tell her he was moving schools.

Once Zane arrived at Rikki's trailer, he went to her bedroom window to see if she was there. He didn't see her in her room. He supposed he could just walk through the front door, Terry had taken a liking to Zane. Still, the older man didn't need to know about this argument or whatever this situation would be called, especially if Zane could resolve it. He had a strong feeling he could fix the problem.

Besides, Zane had a good feeling Rikki wasn't in her trailer anyway. He couldn't put his finger on why, but something was pulling him out to Mako. It didn't take him long to get to the docks where his Zodiac was and fly to the moon pool.

Zane stumbled onto the deserted island and ran to the moon pool. As he had suspected, Rikki was leaning up on the edge of the pool with her tail gently swishing back and forth in the water. She was beautiful in any form but she was that much more gorgeous in the water. A part of him had expected her to swim away as soon as he entered but she had to have known he was here now.

Zane took a seat in the sand in front of her, "Hey."

"Hi." She replied.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Briton earlier." Zane told her. There was no use beating around the bush. "I just... well, I'm sure you know I don't want to go and I was trying to convince my dad otherwise and-"

"No, it's fine." Rikki cut him off. "I understand why you didn't tell me."

"So you're not mad?" Zane asked.

"No, I just..." Rikki started. "I guess since I've moved around a lot, I know it's hard to stay in touch with people."

"Rikki, it's in the same town." Zane told her. "I'll still be able to hang out with you after school."

"I know." She continued. "I guess I..."

"You just... what?" Zane asked after a moment.

"It's just something silly from my past." Rikki scoffed.

"What is it?" Zane asked. He had a suspicion it wasn't silly.

"Why don't we go back to my place and I'll show you." Rikki suggested. "I wrote about it in my journal."

"All right." Zane told her before he bent down to her level and gave her a quick kiss. "I love you."

"I know." She told him with a small grin. "I love you, too."

Zane exited the moon pool and went back to the Zodiac on the shore. He was sure Rikki would beat him back to her trailer and he was right. He didn't expect to see her ripping her room apart when he got to her trailer himself.

"Rikki?" He asked as she continued to dig through the drawers of her small wardrobe. "What's up?"

"My journal." She started. "I can't find it anywhere. I thought I left it on this table but it's not there."

"Didn't you have it at the JuiceNet?" Zane asked, trying to remember the last time he saw her with it. Come to think of it, that black book was attached to her at the hip until a few days ago.

"Yes, I did." Rikki said, as if a light bulb had just gone off in her head. "We can go back and get it. What time is it?"

"Closing time." Zane told her as he held up his watch for her to see.

"Oh." Rikki replied, defeated. She had hoped she could just give her journal to Zane and have him read it. She wanted to tell him but she had hoped to take the easy way out.

"You can tell me too." Zane suggested. "If you want."

"Yeah," Rikki replied. "Yeah I suppose I could.

"It's silly," she continued. "It's not really that traumatic. I guess I'm just more sensitive than I lead on."

"Maybe so." Zane said, moving to her bed and taking a seat at the foot of it. He patted the spot next to him to invite her to take that seat.

"Just don't tell anyone." Rikki said taking the seat. "I can't have people thinking I'm not a hard ass."

"Of course not." Zane laughed. "So what happened?"

"Well... I suppose it's obvious I never really had great friends before I moved here." Rikki started. "But I did have one really good friend when I was about nine. Her name was Sofia. We got on really well which was a change for me. Then, she moved schools and I tried to keep in touch. Anyway, I guess to make a long story short, she was just pretending to be my friend. Some kids had dared her to hang out with me."

"You think I'm just dating you because someone dared me?" Zane asked. That was silly.

"No!" Rikki exclaimed. She didn't mean to insult him like that. "No I mean... well, if you did, you're going through some pretty insane lengths to hold up your end."

He laughed with her. He was glad they could joke about this at least a little bit.

"No, that's not really it." Rikki said. "When I moved before, it was almost a relief. I didn't have to talk to anyone at my old schools again. I've even moved to different schools in the same city. I haven't been able to stay in touch with anyone."

"So you don't think I'll be able to?" Zane asked her.

"I don't think it's as easy as you think it is." Rikki told him. "And I suppose it just brought up some bad memories for me."

"Rikki," Zane started, placing a hand over hers like he had done on the balcony. "You're my top priority. If you want to hang out with me, I'll tell all my other friends to screw off. Sure, we won't be at the same school but I promise, I'll always make time for you."

"Okay." She said after a moment. "Thank you."

"Of course." Zane replied, leaning in to give her a kiss. That was another silly thought, why would he hang out with anyone else doing anything else when he could be kissing Rikki?


End file.
